Naruto the Being Born of Fire
by Dylan Millwood
Summary: Naruto Uzumaki, loyal friend, powerful Genin, and powerful half god! How will Naruto handle being forced from his ninja life into the world were god and goddesses roam? Naruto/Artemis only. Got a PM from fairy tail dragon slayer saying he was no longer interested him and he was replacing it with something new. He offered to let me have it and I accepted.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR NOTE: I GOT A PM FROM FAIRY TAIL DRAGON SLAYER TELLING ME THE HIS STORY, "NARUTO THE BEING BORN OF FIRE" , NO LONGER INTERESTED HIM SO HE WAS REPLACING IT WITH SOMETHING NEW. SO I OFFERED TO ADOPT THE STORY AND HE ACCEPTED.**

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><p>"Urg! What the hell happened?" Naruto Uzumaki asked seeing as he was lost inside of a forest. One second he was about to read a scroll given to him from Tsunade about his mother, and the next he was opening the scroll and there was a flash of light. He could kinda remember having a warm feeling spread through his body that centered around his chest. Looking around he saw the scroll opened on the ground and grabbed it up to see if it had any answers.<p>

_Dear My Sweat Baby,_

_If you are reading this than you will notice that you are no longer inside that damn village that has been keeping you from me for years. After your birth and by law of my family I was not allowed to see you, but neither were you allowed to leave and make friends with your own kind. I am sure that you have noticed ever since you were a kid that it has always been hard for you to read, and you could never sit still. This is because your are a very special kind of child called a Demi-God. Half God, Half Human. Though in your case I would not say half is the right word. You will find out what I mean soon enough though, and I don't want you to be to surprised._

_If you head North of your location you will find a camp that will allow you to stay there without any questions asked. Don't worry though, they will accept you. I would also like to tell you that sex is not needed to have a child, so when you learn about something our family. Also, I would like for you to be careful around a Woman named Artemis, or more accurately be careful of her Hunters. Due to a... deal I have with Artemis that I regret to this day is that if you ever see her she will be taking you as her husband if you like it or not. I do not know her reasons for this, but just know that without her you might never had been born in the first place._

_Taking this all into consideration I would like you to know that I love you, and you are the most important thing in the world to me. Not even your father is as close to my heart as you are._

_I wish you luck, and now that you are out of that village just know that if you ever need help Fire will come to your beck and call, it will empower you, heal you, and protect you like I should have. When we meet I understand if you will want nothing to do with me so I wanted you to know that I Love You Naruto. I Love You with everything I am, and would burn this world if it meant that I could be with you as your mother like I should have been._

_Love, Your Mother_

_P.S. Please make some friends._

_P.S.S. I am still a virgin, so when you see something shocking know that it has to do with my deal with Artemis._

Tears fell down Naruto face as he read the letter, from both anger and happiness at the audacity his mother had. Looking up he decided to get to the bottom of this and head towards the one place where he might get his answers. He was starting to get sick of people doing things with him that he had no say in. Though he was pleased that his torn up arm from hitting Kakuzu with the Rasen-Shuriken in his most recent battle had healed.

'I am getting to the bottom of this.' Naruto thought as the rain started pouring down. He winced slightly for some reason at the feeling of the rain, since for some reason he was uncomfortable getting wet now. Shaking it off though Naruto kept on going until he came across a broken machine and giant hoofprints in the mud, following them he came across an area with some battle scars on it and the rain just seemed to stop when he entered the forest. Naruto looked around and saw that the area above the forest was clear sky, while outside the forest was rain clouds and rain.

"Now that is weird." Naruto said as he continued to walk deeper into the forest until he heard the sounds of laughing and fun. Going towards the sounds he was surprised when a man with the bottom half of a horse, and the man seemed surprised to see Naruto as well. He was wondering how he was able to miss such a potent godly aura Naruto produced, since it was nearly on par with the God's aura's themselves.

"Oh Hello young Demigod. I bid you good day, and hope the Journey to Camp Half-Blood was well for you. My name is Chiron, trainer of Hero's. May I know the name of the one who is before me?" Chiron asked and Naruto looked at him weirdly, since he had never heard anyone talk with that manner of speaking before. Actually he was lucky that for some strange reason he was even able to understand this new language as well. He put that up to the flash of light that took him here.

"... I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I hail from the Land of Fire." Naruto said as the horse-man looked at him in confusion. It was not well known that the Elemental Nations even existed in the first place, and only a few of the God's knew about it in the first place.

"Sorry to say lad, but I have not had the pleasure of hearing of the Land of Fire before. Do you know who your parent is perhaps?" Chiron asked and Naruto sighed. It looks like he was going to have to speak with these 'Gods' about it, since he was apparently a half-god they had to exist.

"Just that my 'Parent' is my mother." Naruto stated and Chiron had a thinking look on his face before he listed all the Goddesses in his head. The boy was handsome was not a pretty boy so not Aphrodite, his eyes were blue so that ruled out Athena, his parent could be Demeter since he had a forest scent to him, and there was no way he was related to the remaining virgin goddesses. So Chiron would hazard a guess at Demeter, or maybe a lesser known Goddess even. Though his aura made him think that Naruto was the work of more than one god.

"Well no matter, you are welcome to join us in out lunch. So why don't you fill your belly. Ah Grover why don't you show this young man to the tables." Chiron called as a pale boy with the bottom half of a goat skipped forward. He baa'd and Naruto blinked before shrugging, it was not weird for half goat people to exist if gods could.

"Follow me man, the food here is epic. Totally beast." Grover said and Naruto rose an eyebrow at the weird way this guy talked as well. He had no idea why food was 'beast' or 'epic' but the way he said it sounded cool.

"Sure, but it better live up to your words or I might be having goat meat tonight." Naruto said and Grover missed the joking tone he used. He backed away from the blond and Naruto rolled his eyes. "I was just joking." He said and Grover calmed down a bit. It was not long before they made it to the meal hall and Naruto was given many strange looks by the campers.

"Hey look, a newbie."

"Kinda cute."

"Looks strong!"

"Such cute whisker marks!"

"I hope he purrs."

"I am going to seduce that!"

"Looks kind of flaky."

Naruto's eye was twitching as he sat down next to a camper closer to his age than most of these twelve year olds. Naruto nodded to the bow with the scar on his face and ignored the bad feeling the boy gave off in favor of giving him a chance.

"You must be new, surprising since most of us don't live to your age without the aid of the camp. My name is Luke son of Hermes by the way." Luke said as another boy at the table with eyes like the sea looked at Naruto in interest. He had only got here a little bit ago as well and he was still surprised at the existence of gods and goddesses.

"Naruto... son of a Goddess. No clue who though." Naruto said as many gasps were heard from the area and Chiron who had just walked in paled. Above Naruto's head was FIVE symbols, a big one of a flame standing on a pillar showing he was the son of... Hestia. Above that were three more of the same symbol showing that she was also his grandmother, great grandmother, and great great grandmother. At the very top was a large symbol of Artemis that was wrapped in a wreath of flowers showing a marriage between the two.

"... Oh mighty Zeus... I mean All Hail Naruto, son of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Grandson of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Great Grandson of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Great Great Grandson of Hearth, Home, and Family. Fiance of Artemis goddess of Chastity, Childbirth, the Moon, and the Hunt." Chiron said as Naruto paled at how much of his family was a single person. Others on the other hand realized another fact though.

93.5 percent of Naruto's blood was that of a goddess, making him closer to a god than any Demi-God could ever claim. Hell, just a little extra push or the blessing one more god would push Naruto into the realm of gods. Nearby Satyrs nearly had heart attacks at how he was connected to Artemis, the well known man hater.

As if to prove Naruto's statement the fire from the pit in the middle of the area rushed towards him and surronded his body harmlessly, and Naruto felt no pain, only strength as the fire fueled his power. Naruto was still mostly concerned that he was the result of incest at it's finest. Then the letter came into his mind and he remembered that apparently there was more than one way for a goddess to get pregnant.

"All Hail Naruto, son of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Grandson of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Great Grandson of Hestia goddess of Hearth, Home, and Family. Great Great Grandson of Hearth, Home, and Family. Fiance of Artemis goddess of Chastity, Childbirth, the Moon, and the Hunt." The whole camp yelled as they all bowed to Naruto in a show of respect of his claiming.

Today was a weird day to be Naruto Uzumaki, and he handled it the best way any person could when they learned such a shocking secret about their family...he fainted.


	2. Chapter 2

"Why did you call me here younger brother?" Hestia asked with a tilted head as she took the form of an eight year old child with brown hair and flame red eyes. Wearing a simple brown dress and bandana over her brown hair. She had a small smile on her face that never seemed to fade.

"You broke your oath Hestia. Explain yourself." Zeus, King of Gods, ordered as the other gods and goddesses around them in their own thrones nodded at the order. It was long known that Hestia was one of the virgin goddess and had sworn to never take a husband or lose her virginity. Then Zeus turned to an auburn haired beauty with silver eyes that appeared to be in her teen years. "Artemis, you owe and explanation as well for planning to break your oath as well." Zeus said somewhat less demanding of his favorite daughter of many.

"I have neither broken my oath, or given my virginity dear younger brother." Hestia said with full confidence, and the only two that nodded to her statement were both Athena and Artemis. Athena, because she herself was still a virgin after having children herself. She was able to create children from her mind, and her love for a man. Artemis simply nodded because she had been their for the creation of Hestia's last child.

"Could you please explain that further?" A woman next to Zeus asked with narrowed eyes, her name was Hera and she was both Zeus' wife and Queen of the gods.

"Gladly, as you know I am able to move between the border separating the nations and us at will." Hestia started and a few of the gods looked jealous at that fact. Since Hestia had given up her throne the barrier would allow her to travel between the worlds without interference, unlike them who were stuck in this world. Seeing them following she nodded to herself with the story she had planned. "Well, one day I was walking around in the world over THERE when I had come across a brave man fighting hundreds of warriors singlehandedly. He was more powerful than even the strongest of Demi-Gods I had ever seen. He was a Shinobi." Hestia said, while many actually scoffed at a normal human being more powerful than a half god. They must have forgotten that these weren't normal humans she was talking about.

"Continue with your tale." Zeus ordered and she could feel her eye twitching in annoyance this time. She was just about to continue when he said that.

"Anyway, I was so enraptured with his performance that I had lost some control over my own flames. By chance the warrior had gotten injured during his battle and a single drop of blood landed on one of my rogue flames. My feelings of admiration, and his blood going into my flames had produced something that had never happened before..." Hestia said with a small blush of joy on her face at remembering thjat faithfull day. It was the day that had granted her the very first child she had ever had before, so it would always be ingrained into her memory.

"A child was born, wasn't it?" Athena asked as her finders interlocked under her chin. Grey eyes twinkling in amusement, and a deep thirst for knowledge that exceeded any other in existence. This was the most interesting piece of knowledge she had ever heard since she herself had larned about her ability to create Mind Children. Now Hestia had the ability to create Fire Children, and she could only wonder if all goddesses had different ways of giving birth.

"Yes, my first born son was created on that day. I was forced to leave him at an orphanage at that time and watched him grow into a strong man in his own right, but sadly my first did not have long to live before he was killed in battle with that accursed Madara. Before he took his last breath I appeared before him and set his blood aflame and my second child, my grandchild, was born from the ashes of his father and brother." Hestia said sadly, and thankfully for her rage she had cursed Madara Uchiha's clan that day with the curse of having to much love for his family. When Uchiha's lost somebody they loved they would slowly go insane, and would hopefully be killed. She made the focus of her curse his dreaded Sharingan.

"Since the father was also your child, this child had more of your godly blood in him than the last one correct?" Poseidon, the god of the Sea asked with a curious look himself. An very attractive woman nearby scoffed and her frown deepened.

"Having a child without getting to the good stuff is so boring. Where is the forbidden romance of incest and breaking your vows?!" Aphrodite said loudly, and Hestia just kept her pleasant demeanor. She was always the most patient and the kindest of the gods and goddesses.

"I assure you Aphrodite, that this tale is very exciting. Now, as I was about to say to Poseidon. Yes, because my second was born of the first he had even more of my godly blood in him. At this point he was three/fourths god and one/fourth human. My second grew up to be a very fine young man, and had become of strong warrior in his own right. He lived a good life and like his father he looked to be a copy of his grandfather. The same spiked golden hair, and sapphire blue eyes that radiated kindness and the goal to prove himself. One day though he went to war with the leader of another nation, and sadly he did not live passed that day. Like his father before him I used his blood to birth another child, who now had even more godly blood in him." Hestia said as the gods and goddesses were enraptured in her tale, but one god had a question for her. This one was Ares, her nephew and son of Zeus. One of the gods she was not very fond of, even though she did love him as family.

"So your children are all losers that died in battle, eh? Figures a weak goddess can only make weak Demi-Gods." Ares said arrogantly, and Hestia ignored him in favor of continuing her tale. She had already seen him mocking her from the start, and had promised herself to not attack him for his foolish pride.

"This child was my third, Minato Namikaze, and like the first and second he was a near perfect copy of the first and second before him. This time though I decided to send him to a village in the Land of Fire. Now this time I watched him closely and for the first time own of my children fell in love with a young girl named Kushina Uzumaki. It was on their wedding day that I introduced myself to the young pair, and I was welcomed with open arms after telling my story. It was two weeks later that it had dawned on the young ones of one dark fact." Hestia started and was interrupted by Hera.

"Kushina Uzumaki was infertile." Hera stated to her older sister, and Hera nodded sadly.

"Yes, so one day they came to me and asked that I grant them a child with both their blood. I tried this for them, but it was not meant to be. That is where Artemis came in." Hestia stated and Artemis nodded.

"Yes, Hestia had come to me and asked that I take the child on herself and Minato and place it inside the womb of Kushina Uzumaki. Allowing for both Kushina and Hestia to become the mothers for this unique child. The first child that was born with ninety percent of his blood being that of Hestia, three percent being that of Kushina, and seven percent being that of Minato." Artemis stated as if talking about a work of art. Naruto was not just mostly a god/goddess by blood of Hestia, but was also the only son of two mother by blood.

"Why would you agree to this Artemis!?" Zeus demanded an answer of her, and she sent him a respectful look.

"I have been without a child myself for so long, and seeing both of the other virgin goddesses have children I too wish to gain a husband or child. So I made a deal with Hestia, if the child is born female she would then join my hunters on her seventh year of life. If the child was a male than on a day of my choice he would then become my husband and travel with my hunters. That, and because of my throne I was unable to go to the other world on my own, so this was a way to 'check out' what was there as the mortals say." Artemis explained much to the shock of others. Her, the legendary Man-Hater, wanted a husband and children. She may hate men, but she had grown to a more indifferent stance on worthy ones, and Minato had been a perfect man, so she had no doubt his son would be the same. After all, they were children of the kindest goddess.

"Jealousy, and forbidden romance! This story IS starting to get better!" Aphrodite said with a girlish giggle that made Artemis frown in annoyance. She was not a fan of the love goddess, and if given the chance to kill her she would not hesitate to take it.

"There was a... complication though with the birth ten months-" Hestia started before she was interrupted by Hera.

"Nine months." Hera said, since she knew human women gave birth after nine months of pregnancy.

"No, Kushina Uzumaki was a... different kind of woman. She had inside her a force of nature that was more powerful than both my father and Typhon combined. This force of destruction was a giant fox-like creature with nine tails that could cause disaster with a swipe of one tail. This force of nature caused the time to go from nine to ten months. Sadly, the second my Fourth Child was born there he had been kidnapped by a masked man. Both my flames and Artemis' arrows simply passed through this man as if we were ants before a dragon. Much to my regret Kushina had been captured and the Nine Tailed Fox released. Minato had managed to defeat then man and the fox at the cost of his and his wifes life. I was unable to interfere with his battle and save him, and little Naruto was left without any parents when I had been called back to this world by my duties, but not before I placed high magic on a letter I wrote to him that would bring him here when he read it." Hestia said as she let her silver tears fall freely from her flame colored eyes. She was not ashamed of her sadness, but what saddened her was the tragic end that all her children went through besides Naruto. She could remember seeing him after his birth like it was yesterday.

She knew he was going to grow up and look like the First, Second, and Third of her children with a little bit of Kushina mixed in. He just had the cutest little whisker marks on his cheeks.

"Very well, but I will not hesitate to strike this child down if he crosses me." Zeus said and Hestia scowled at her youngest brother for the blatant threat against her son, but she was not powerful enough to challenge Zeus AND any other god or goddess that supports him. She was very powerful, but if she was approached by four gods than she would fall in battle.

Hestia simply nodded to Zeus before turning into fire and heading into the nearest hearth to go anywhere else bu here. With no reason to stay any longer all the others left to go do what they desired to do, and Artemis grimaced at the conversation she was going to have to have with her own Hunters.

**[With Naruto]**

"So where do I stay horse-man." Naruto said. He seriously forgot the man's name, and his lower horse half was his most notable trait.

"Chiron, and I do not know where I shall put you. I would send a prayer to either your... mother or to Lady Artemis and ask she either build you a cabin, or be granted permission to use Lady Artemis' cabin as your new home." Chiron stated to Naruto. It had been a few days since Naruto had arrived at camp, and Naruto had become annoyed with sleeping on the ground. He went to Chiron to see if he could bunk with others, and that was his answer.

Naruto nodded at the answer, and went to talk to the first person he had met when he had come to the camp. It took a few minuted a calm walking, but he eventually found Luke training with a few others from his cabin in the way of the sword. Naruto observed him for a moment and saw the boy was very skilled at wielding his weapon. He turned around to leave, since he did not want to interrupt a training session for small reasons. He hated when others did it to him, so he would not do it to others.

What goes around, comes around. He did not want this coming around back to him.

So he just decided to try and find good lodging now while he had the chance, before he realized something.

He was not sure how to send the gods and goddesses a prayer, so despite the fact he was most likely going to make a fool of himself he walked over to a pure silver cabin and got down on his knees.

"Artemis, I request that I be given permission to stay at your cabin." Naruto requested politely, since he honestly wasn't sure if he wanted to talk to his mother just yet. He wasn't sure how to take it when the door to the cabin suddenly sprung open, and flowers started blooming around him. He hoped that would be a yes, though, and he smiled and walked into the cabin. The very first thing he saw was that the ceiling looked like it was transparent, and the nights sky with stars filled his view... even though it was day outside.

The cabin itself had many pelts around it and hammocks were hanging around. There were some tables around the area, and silver bows and arrows hung on the walls. Artemis' symbol of the waxing moon was all over the place, as well as little nicknacks in places. Then he saw one of the walls glow, before another door appeared. This one was orange-colored with flame designs on it. On it was his name carved into his with Hestia's symbol above it.

He was hesitant about opening the door, but when he did, he smiled at the warm feeling it gave him... both emotionally and literally. The floor to this room was some kind of softer wood, and the floor of the room sank in the middle to reveal a fire pit that was away from the wood of the floor. Naruto smiled at the fire that was in the middle of the room, he could feel... love radiating from the flame. The walls of the room were painted in the design of a forest, and there were random logs situated around the room.

Unlike the room he was just in, the ceiling of this room gave the view of a bright yellow sun in the sky that reigned down warmth on Naruto. He smiled when he saw that he had his own hammock in the room, in right next to it was a dresser to hold his clothes in.

Naruto jumped when he felt something nudge him in the side and turned around to see a... donkey in the room with him. The donkey seemed happy to see him, and Naruto smiled and gave the animal a rub on the head. He did not know why, but he felt some kind of connection with the animal. The donkey moved to one area of the room that had a small bed of hay for it and it went to sleep.

"I don't know why, but I feel so at home right now." Naruto said before he remembered something. "Thank you Artemis, and... Mom." Naruto said with a small smile.

Unknown to him the flame in the room brightened for a moment when he was not looking, before going back to normal. He could have sworn though he had heard a sweet voice speak from it though.

_I love you Naruto._


	3. Chapter 3

"This actually feels really cool." Naruto commented to himself as he let his legs rest in the flames he had in his room. He could guess that to anyone else but a child of Hestia, placing your legs in a fire might seem idiotic, but to Naruto this felt amazing. The warmth travelling over his legs, and his immunity to fire he had never noticed before made this a wonderful thing for him. Now that he thought about it, when Sasuke had used fire jutsus on him when they were younger, they didn't even touch him.

Naruto felt something lick the side of his face, and he turned to see his new pet donkey that was a gift from his mother. He guessed the animal was important to her for some reason, but who was he to judge. He thought toads were awesome. He scratched the donkey's side for a few minutes before the creature tiredly walked over to it's bed. Deciding he would go explore the camp some Naruto stood up fromt the fire, but his legs were still surprisingly on fire. Naruto blinked before using his mind to ask the fire to go back to the flame. He was actually somewhat surprised when that worked.

_'Control over fire... awesome!'_ Naruto thought as he moved to the wardrobe to get some clothes, and he had to smile at the camp's ORANGE T-shirt with 'Camp Half-Blood' written on it. Then he frowned when he realized what this shirt also meant. It showed that he just had another thing that made him different, that he would never be the same as other kids here. Heck, he was the result of a freakish amount of mother/son incest! If that was not strange than he did not want to know what was.

Naruto sighed and started to get dressed, and once that was done he looked at himself in the mirror and had to grin at how he looked, he had forgone the camp shirt seeing as he loathed uniformity and instead opted for an outfit consisting of a skintight orange-red zip-up long sleeved shirt, black pants, a black trench coat over his shirt with a design on the back of a fireball inscribed between the horns of a crescent moon (Naruto suspected that either his mother or the one he was apparently engaged to had custom-made the jacket because of that), and some leather combat boots.

Without his headband on his golden locks framed his amber eyes that continued to change colors like a flame perfectly...wait, weren't his eyes suppose to be sapphire blue? Because from what this mirror was telling him, they had been replaced with eyes that were colored to look like shifting fire.

Just another thing that was weird.

"See you in a little bit." Naruto said to his pet as he left the room and ended up in the normal sleeping quarters for Artemis' hunters, or whatever they were called. Naruto was not born in this place, so he had no understanding of any of this greek stuff. All he knew was that he had so much godly blood in him that he himself was nearly a god.

Nearly one, that was.

"You seem well rested."

Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard a voice speaking to him from behind him, and when he turned around he was met with a young girl in her early teens looking at him with a very light smile, in fact that he wasn't sure if she was really smiling, or that if it was just her face. The girl had long auburn hair that was kept up behind her in a high ponytail, and her eyes were as silvery-yellow as the moon, and Naruto found them incredibly beautiful and they shined just like the moon in the sky. If it weren't for the pupils in her eyes, Naruto would have sworn that somebody plucked the moon from the sky just to duplicate it and use both of the moons to make her eyes.

Strapped to her back was a silver bow, with a quiver filled to the brim with arrows. She also wore a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket with a silvery parka over it, and camouflage pattered pants, all in all, she was dressed in a way that he could say was more suited for hunting than actual battle. The girl also had an air of superiority about her that Naruto had gotten used to when you knew people from the Hyuga and Uchiha clans back home.

"Yeah, best night of sleep I ever had." he said, then frowned and studied her face. Something about this girl...he felt like she was someone he should know. "You seem... familiar. Do I know you from somewhere or something?" Naruto asked the teen in front of him. She laughed in an airy way, and he had to admit the tone was melodious. It simply could not belong to any human, simply because the sound was too...otherworldly and beautiful.

"You could say you have knowledge OF who I am, but not of my face." The girl said in a mysterious tone as she took a few steps towards him and placed a hand on his chest. Right where his heart was, and she smiled when she could feel his heartbeat quicken. Naruto couldn't help it, because for some reason, this girl was making him react in ways Sakura never had before.

"... Are you my mother?" Naruto asked with a strange look, and the girl chuckled quietly at his assumption. It was a good guess if you were going by her hint, but still wrong in it's nature. Actually, it was not totally wrong since Naruto would not have been born without her presence for his conception.

"No, but my place in your heart shall be just as unique and special as hers. The bond you and I shall share had been forged before you were born, and is both as unavoidable as it is joyful." The girl nearly preached, and Naruto was starting to clue in on her identity after awhile. The only other person he might have such a bond with her was that "Artemis" goddess that he was suppose to marry.

"Artemis?" Naruto asked more than stated as the girl took her hand off of his chest and turned around so that he could not see her face. The smile she had on her lips showed just what she was feeling when he guessed her name correctly. Like Hestia, Artemis had been watching Naruto for most of his life.

She liked what she had seen... except the Sexy Jutsu, but Naruto did not mean it as an insult to women when he had made it so even that could be forgiven. He had made it as a distraction for perverse men. And even in ancient times, using one's beauty as a weapon could be respected, that was the ONLY thing she and Aphrodite could agree on.

Naruto had always shown unwavering determination, courage beyond belief, creativity to use even the most unusual tactics in the heat of battle. He was friendly and treated women nicely, and most men with some form of disrespect. He was handsome with the looks he had gotten from his parents. He may not be the most intellectual, but he was without a doubt one of the strongest.

"Correct Naruto, now look in your pocket.", Artemis ordered semi-kindly, tuning back around to face him again and Naruto blinked before he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. When he opened it, he saw that it was a map of whatever country he was in, but it also seemed to be pretty old at the same time. The map had a few locations on it, but that was not want had him impressed. It had Camp Half-Blood marked on it, and under it were both a silver and orange dot. On another part of the map was a green dot and a blue dot.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Naruto asked, since this kind of map was strange to him.

"If you are ever lost or need to find me that map will lead you to me without any trouble. The orange dot is yourself, the silver one is myself, that green dot will move to whatever location my Hunter's Camp is currently located at, and the blue one is my Second-In-Command if you ever need her as well. Unlike many of my other hunters she had been informed of my deal with your mother when I made it. You will find an comrade in her. If that map is ever lost of destroyed it will reappear in your hand if you say 'I Wish To See My Beloved' and it will come to as good a new." Artemis said with a silent smirk on her face that Naruto was unable to see with her back turned to him. Naruto smiled at the gift, since it could actually prove to be very useful.

"When will I be able to see you again?" Naruto asked and Artemis pointed to his map.

"Like I previously stated, you shall always be welcome with my hunters. You have proven to be capable of taking care of yourself Naruto, so if you make it to my camp you will be allowed to hunt with us. Though be warned, do not come to my camp unless you are ready to be wed to me. Coming to my camp will show to me that you are ready to become my husband, but before I go I will grant you one last gift." Artemis stated warningly, but her gaze softened when she grabbed his left hand and moved it slowly to her lips. She placed a gentle kiss on his ring finger before stepping away as a silver ring materialized on the finger she kissed. It was just a pure silver band with no markings or anything, but Naruto did notice that it had the exact same aura as she did.

Her hair hide her face as she abruptly turned around, but for a flash of a second, Naruto could have sworn her cheeks went from lightly tanned to flushed.

Artemis had to take a breath to calm herself, and her blush started to fade from her face.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but what does the ring do?" Naruto asked, confused, and he could hear Artemis chuckling slightly.

"Think of it as an engagement present. As long you wear that band around your finger you shall be gifted with great bow and arrow skills, and like myself you may learn to speak to beings of nature, but not only that...as long as you wear that ring no other woman other than myself will ever 'excite' you again." Artemis explained with a smile.

She could not have her future husband be bad at shooting arrows, and she was a hundred percent sure that Aphrodite was going to try and tempt Naruto with either herself, or she was going to try and play a hand in his romantic life.

Naruto would one day be a God.

It was unavoidable, since if Naruto died then he would be reborn as a full God. Heck, all he needed was the blessing of one or two more gods or goddesses and he would become a God without having to die.

"Cool! Thanks Artemis!" Naruto said with a small smile. He knew he should be angry, but he could tell this gift was truly for his benefit more than hers

"... You are welcome, Naruto." Artemis stated after a moment of surprise. It had been a long time since a man had thanked her for something, and all of this was just as new for her as it was for Naruto. Turning around again she started to walk passed Naruto, and the second she did Naruto turned around to see she was no longer there. Like she had vanished into thin air. Naruto shook his head and took out the map again, and to his surprise the silver dot was now with the blue and green dots.

"Now that is pretty cool." Naruto said out loud at the thought of teleporting.

He was going to HAVE to learn how to do that!

**[With Artemis]**

Artemis was now sitting in her tent with a small smile on her face, and her in hands was a photo album with various pictures of Naruto from his toddler years to what he was currently. She had a very long time to think on her decision with choosing to marry the flame eyes blond boy, and she knew that she was correct in her choice. Now all she had to do was wait for him to show up, either on purpose or by accident. She was the goddess of both Virginity and Childbirth after all.

Being the goddess of virginity meant that she was going to have to experience everything that has to do with virginity. That also meant losing it eventually, but that mattered not since her maiden barrier would always reappear right back in place like she had never lost it.

She was also going to have to experience childbirth for herself one day, and who better to experience that with than a boy that she did not hate?


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto looked at the ring on his finger with a sigh, while he had acted brave and excepting that he would be marrying Artemis on the outside, on the inside he was a little scared. Any person would be if they were told that they would be getting married to somebody they did not know. Sure, he was attracted to her, she was very pretty, but that did not make a good marriage if it were based off looks. He wanted something...real. Something mutual, something genuine between two people.

"Fancy ring you have there." A voice said said from behind him, not that it had mattered since Naruto hadn't been surprised by the intruder anyway. Looking behind him he saw that it was a blond girl younger than him by a few years looking at him with grey eyes that screamed 'curiosity', and a thirst to have her knowledge sated. He could just tell that she wanted to prove herself to others and do great things. She had drive, and that was impressive.

"Yeah. It was a gift from a good friend of mine, you could say." Naruto said as he kicked his leg in the water, while ignoring the slight annoyance touching the water caused him. He was practically made of fire, and his connection to fire was extremely deep. Of course water would hurt him.

"Annabeth Chase." The girl said as she sat down next to him and took her shoes and socks off to place her feet in the water next to him, but unlike him she actually liked the feeling of water moving around her toes. She had no connection to flame like he did, and from his reflection in the water he could see that touching water actually made his eyes kinda dim a little.

"You already know my name, but saying it again won't hurt anything. Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto said with a light smirk. He could not help it though, since he was a little bit annoyed at how his peaceful reflection time was ruined.

"You have a Japanese name." Annabeth commented, and Naruto shrugged. He had no idea was 'Japanese' was, but apparently his name sounded like it came from there. He had never heard of Japanese before, so it was new to him.

"Well, if you ask me your name is weird, too." Naruto commented and Annabeth realized he my have taken some offence to how she had phrased her sentence. She always had a habit of putting her foot in her mouth, but thankfully this guy was not taking too much offence to that.

"I guess it is weird...my mother is Athena by the way." Annabeth stated, and Naruto nodded. She saw the look on his face, and could tell he had no idea who her mother really was.

"My mother is a goddess, just like yours. Goddess of knowledge and battle strategy." Annabeth explained, and Naruto nodded his head. Then he realized she might be able to answer a question he had been wondering about. He honestly wanted to know this because he felt there was some kind of interesting story behind it.

"Does my mother have anything to do with donkeys?" Naruto asked, and Annabeth nodded. She was a little glad that this guy had not pushed her away, and that he seemed to be trying to learn...at least a little. That showed he was not a complete idiot for not trying to stay ignorant.

"That is actually a very interesting story that dates back..." Annabeth started, and Naruto could already tell this girl was a lot like Sakura was with making explanations as long and complicated as possible. That was why Naruto decided to interrupt her and make her get to the point. He may be interested, but not interested enough to listen to a long winded explanation that had nothing to do with the point.

"Does this story have a short version?" Naruto asked, and Annabeth sent him an annoyed look but nodded anyway. She could understand that Naruto may be a little testy from the changes he must be having in his life. She wasn't sure of his past, but he seemed pretty clueless to what had been going on. Perfectly normal for half-bloods.

"Hestia was sleeping peacefully in her bed one night after drinking a lot on Olympus, and a she was nearly raped in her bed. There had been a donkey there that night, and it started to make a lot of noise that woke her up and gave her time to run. Ever since that day she made the donkey one of her symbols." Annabeth said simply. Now that he heard part of that story Naruto understood the importance of the donkey she had given him as a pet. It was a very nice thing of Hestia to give him, and he would have to thank her when he saw her... after he figured out how he felt about her.

"...How wild was that party that they got a donkey involved?" Naruto wondered out loud, and Annabeth look at him like he was stupid.

"You here your mother was almost raped, and you are questioning why a donkey was in the room?" Annabeth asked, and Naruto laid back and kicked some water into the air.

"That happened a long time ago, and she wasn't raped. She was saved by the donkey. But does it not make you wonder, and therefore gain knowledge, as to way there was a donkey there in the first place? Does it not make you wonder if the events had not been planned out, or a plan was sabotaged?" Naruto teased, mentally making a note to find the guy who had nearly done that to his mother and slowly sear his groin off...and that was just to start.

Unaware of of her fellow blond demigod's demented and vengeful thoughts, Annabeth's eyes widened at the secrets there could have been on that day. So many things did not add up, and now she HAD to know why!

"Are you a genius, or an idiot?" Annabeth asked after a moment of thought, and Naruto opened one of his flame colored eyes to stare her down.

"Who wants to be a genius? Being a genius just means you're better than others at things that have already been done, while idiots are the people that make new ideas. The people that invent things are called idiots until their ideas work, and then they are called geniuses. By that understanding, I would rather be an idiot anyday, than a genius." Naruto explained, and Annabeth had her mind blown. What Naruto had just said was pretty deep. It truly shocked her to the core that maybe being an idiot wasn't a bad thing.

"You should join my team for the-" Annabeth started before Naruto cut her off.

"Sorry, but I don't plan on staying at the camp much longer than I need to. I want to explore everything this place has to offer." Naruto said with a stretch of his limps he stood up and made his way to start leaving the camp. This camp was not the place for him. He could feel it in his bones that he would be better suited for the life of constant battle.

Here, there was not true challenge. He could tell everything would be too easy for if he wanted it to be, so he would explore this world and see what it had to offer him. Maybe he would take Artemis up on her offer and join up with her. At least he wouldn't be bored that way, and he would be able to help others there.

"You can't leave." Annabeth said in a bored voice, and Naruto shook his head.

"I didn't say right away, but I will have to leave pretty soon." Naruto explained, and Annabeth covered her forehead at his point and decided she would let somebody else deal with explaining why he can't leave.

"Not a wise choice." Annabeth commented, and Naruto scoffed.

"It is a heated one though." Naruto said as he fired a pun back at her, and she was mildly impressed by his wit. Not many people actually thought of intelligent comebacks in a split second.

Obviously she had never seen two ninja trash talk in battle.

"You are a very strange person." Annabeth pointed out, and Naruto just walked away without giving her another glance. He had a small smile on his face though, but it was hidden by the fact he was looking at the mostly clear sky. She just stayed where she was as she went, since Naruto still needed time to adjust in her opinion. Plenty of people had some issues when they first came here, and many more were angry at being abandoned as kids.

She would try and introduce him to Grover and other people later. Grover was always good at making friends with idiotic demi-gods and people like them. That new Percy kid was proof of that.

Yes, she would get Naruto to make friend with Grover!


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto looked into the room that he had been staying in the last few days before he started to pack up some supplies for the road. This camp, while a great place to make friends, was just not very good for his type of person. He couldn't push himself here, and he couldn't fight to his fullest everyday. He was a ninja, and boring days like this made him paranoid and restless. A lot of people also seemed to naturally seem nervous around and avoid him because of his status.

Near-God, instead of the normal demigod.

Funny, because most of Naruto's DNA was from a Goddess, which had earned him another nickname that people spoke behind his back. Everytime he was going to attack, though, he remembered that all the people here were related to him in some way. Hurting them was like hurting family, and he was NOT a person that liked to do that. Some nicknames Naruto liked better than others.

Child of Flame, Near-God, the Fire's Shadow (he especially liked that one, since the word Hokage ment "Fire Shadow", but it also made him homesick for Konoha), and the Flame-Eyed Prince.

Some names he really hated though, and that name he spoke of earlier was the worst one:

Male Goddess.

"Lets see. Got my map, my ring, and my clothes.' Naruto thought as he started to head away from the border separating demigods from the outside world. The sooner Naruto left, the sooner he could start going on adventures and maybe one days find a way back home. He was about to exit the barrier before he heard a voice call out to him.

"Wait for meeee!"

Naruto didn't even get that much of a chance to turn around before a smaller figure came rushing right into his back and fell to the ground. Looking down at the ground, Naruto saw a young girl, about twelve years old, standing up and rubbing her forehead and bum from the collision with him. The girl wore the camp shirt like everyone else, and she had a mocha tan skin. A very flat chest. Her hair was a platinum blond, and she had shimmering blue eyes and over all, from where he came from she would be considered to look like she was from the Land of Lightning. Then there was the fact that she was wearing strange shoes with wings on the sides.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked with a small smile at the younger girl as she took up a strange pose that he remembered Konohamaru doing when he was younger.

"Soaring through the skies of Florida, and surfing on the waves of justice my name with one day be known throughout the galaxy as the girl that will travel the roads of freedom and bring about the chaos of pranks! My name is the cute and powerful Desma!" the girl announced as she took a new pose that gave Naruto a minor flashback of when he first met Jiraiya, and his staring at the girl turned into an expressionless deadpan.

"Well Desma, WHY were you following me?" Naruto asked, before she got up in his face with a grin that spoke of mischief and decided to have some fun with him.

"You're leaving camp, and I want along." Desma said with a grin that reminded Naruto of his own.

"How would you know I am leaving camp?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, and the girl shifted under the gaze of his amber, godly flaming eyes.

"I saw you walking towards the barrier, and figured it out." Desma said as she looked away from Naruto, and he snorted at her sudden shyness. Technically Naruto was her uncle, because of his connection to Hestia.

"Smart, if you want to come you have to pull your weight." Naruto stated as he started to walk passed the borders of the camp. Desma nodded and followed after Naruto with a skip to her step.

"So... where are you going?" Desma asked and Naruto pulled his map from Artemis out of his pocket and started to unfold it and pointed at where they were. Words starts to write on the spot where Naruto pointed and Desma looked amazed by the map.

**Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141**  
><strong>Long Island, New York 11954<strong>

"Right now, we're right here." Naruto said, before he moved his finger and the name of the camp vanished. Moving his finger to a new spot that had a yellow dot on it, meaning the location of a spot connected to the Gods and Goddesses. Unlike the dots for him, Artemis, the Hunters, and that lieutenant of hers that Artemis had mentioned when she'd visited him, these dots would always stay in he same place. This map was perhaps the best gift that could be given to him, not to say he was ungrateful for the ring.

He had tested himself out with a bow and arrow, and found that he just had an unnatural talent with it. Then when he took the ring off for a moment and tried again he was only a little above average thanks to his own Shinobi training to use different weapons.

The new spot Naruto was pointing two formed words next to it, and Desma looked at him curiously.

**Gila Claw, Arizona - Junkyard for Gods**

"There has to be some cool stuff at a junkyard the gods use, so why not turn their trash into our treasure?" Naruto explained as he folded the map up and put it back into his pocket. Desma looked at Naruto for a second, before shrugging. His logic made a little sense, and even trash to a god would be worth something.

"Sounds hot to me." Desma commented as the two of them watched out of the strawberry fields and onto the nearest street.

"Hey, who's your parent anyway?" Naruto asked out of curiosity, and Desma blinked at the random question before she grinned in a cocky way.

"The awesome Apolo is my dad, and that is why I'm so rad." Desma attempted to rhyme, and ended up with a corny rap. Naruto figured that may either be a personal thing for her, or something she got from her parent.

He hoped he never had to meet anyone who was like that by their own choice...

* * *

><p>Meanwhile in Kumogakure, Bee sneezed.<p>

* * *

><p>"If you're going to be coming with me... please never do that again." Naruto commented dryly, and Desma blushed lightly and chuckled over her epic fail. Naruto turned to the road.<p>

"If only we had a ride or something..." Desma commented to herself. No sooner had she spoken than the road cracked open and fire shot from the ground, making Desma yelp in surprise. Out of the fire, something came out of the ground before the crack closed back up. Once the flames cleared Naruto and Desma saw a... mountain bike? It wasn't like any bike she had seen before.

The whole thing was painted in the color of flames, and on the front was a larger-than-average black metal basket that could carry a bit of stuff in it. Unlike most bikes, this one also had the seat of the bike extended to be able to carry two people, and from what she could see the wheels of the bike were made of some really high quality stuff. She was kind of disappointed that they weren't given something that would actually be useful, but who was she to complain?

Looking into the basket, Naruto found a note addressed to him from his mother.

_To my Baby,_

_I figured you wouldn't want to stay in the camp for to long, so I called in a favor to a friend of mine and he agree'd to make this bike for you. Just know though that even though you are leaving the camp, you are welcome to go back anytime you wish to go. Your Donkey will be well looked after until you come back._

_Artemis has already told me of your encounter with her, and has told me that if you wish to join her early that you will still be married the second that you step foot in her camp. Apolo also requests that you look after his daughter for him, and show her the fun side of living life on the open road and true camping. He also has placed a weapon for her in the basket, and I have placed one in there for you as well. This bike was made to handle Shinobi leg speeds, so don't be afraid to really give it your all._

_Oh, and if you want to have a good adventure, I suggest going to as many Magical Places as you can, and just know that no matter what you do I will be proud of you._

_From Hestia, your mother_

"This is so awesome!" Desma nearly shouted as she pulled a golden bow, and quiver full of arrows out of the basket. She strapped them to her back, before she blinked when she felt them vanish and the quiver turn into a backpack, while the bow turned into a golden hairclip that kept her bangs out of her right eye. Naruto chuckled at her enjoyment, before he reached into the basket and pulled out a seventeen-and-a-half inch long bronze hunting knife. That would be helpful to him, because he had learned from another camper that normal weapons didn't really affect monsters.

He wanted to test if his chakra could hurt monsters, but it was always good to have a back up plan. The knife was about the size and weight of a kunai, yet he could tell the metal wasn't going to be easily broken like a normal dagger. Naruto himself blinked and stared in shock when the dagger glowed for a moment before it turned into a ring around his right middle finger, mirroring his ring from Artemis with the exception of the color.

"Thanks Mom." Naruto muttered a small word of thanks, and he promised himself that he was going to pay his mother back by slaying as many monsters ap possible in her name while he tried to find his way back home. Getting on the seat of the bike, he lifted up Desma by the back of her new backpack and put her behind him. Looking into the basket one last time, Naruto saw a small bag, so picking up the bag he opened it and did a quick count of what was inside it. The side of the bag said "Golden Drachmas" on it, and doing a quick count he found there to be twenty of the golden coins exactly.

"Lets get going already!" Desma yelled with new excitement, and with a grin Naruto started to petal the bike as fast as he could, and the two of them shot off at easily eighty miles per hour as their starting speed.

Desma's screams of terror could be heard, along with Naruto's barks of laughter as the two of them set off on a journey that would hopefully one day become legendary in nature. Once the two of them were gone, a small girl with brown hair and flame-colored eyes formed in a burst of fire and looked at Naruto started to leave on the road.

It was Hestia in her child form, and as she watched her own child she was filled with the sensation of pride.

The Ancient Laws stated that she could not raise him, or help him during quests. Right now though, Naruto wasn't on a quest so she could give him as many gifts as she wanted to... to try and make up for how little she had been in his life. She was happy that the child of Apollo was going with Naruto, mostly because she didn't want him to be lonely, and children of Apollo had the ability to heal others. He may be a regenerator thanks to the fox within him, but a a mother, it made her feel better that Naruto had someone to take care of him if he were hurt.

"... Good luck, my dearest son, and may my flames of love keep you warm during your sleep." Hestia whispered with a tiny smile on her face, and with that said she flashed red and teleported back to her own home on Olympus.

She had work to do after all.


	6. Chapter 6

"Why don't you tell me about yourself!?" Naruto yelled over the sound of wind rushing past them as he rode his bike at speeds now well surpassing what most cars could do. Desma was sure the two of them had already travelled over two hundred miles in the last two hours!

"Not much to know! My dad is Apolo, and my mother was a hooker from Florida! I came to camp when I was three years old, and I have spent most of my life training!" Desma yelled near his ear as she hung onto his waist for dear life. If she fell of this bike at these speeds, she was going to get more than some scrapes. She would be missing CHUNKS of her flesh and her bones would be shattered. That was more than she could heal.

She was only good at healing bruises and poisons.

"You mom was a hooker!?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, and he could feel her shrug her shoulders at him.

"She was a big tittied bitch, and knew how to flip dad's switch!" Desma said, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh at that one. That was actually a pretty good joke of her to tell. The hooker part seemed to be true, but the way she said it made it funnier than it should have been. Naruto wasn't going to hold the hooker part against her though, because you can't help who your parents are.

"What did I say about rapping!?" Naruto asked her, and he tilted his head to look at her straight in the eyes. She shrank back from the flames that seemed to lick at his eyes, and she was pretty sure that he wasn't even trying to look scary. His warm eyes just made the thought of disappointing him to unthinkable that it scared you when you thought you were annoying him.

"Sorry! I won't do it again, and I promise I am not... LION!" Desma shouted in fear, and Naruto looked at her for a second before he realized why she yelled lion.

Right in front of them was a huge golden lion easily the size of a pick-up truck, and not only that but Naruto barely evaded it when it jumped at them. He ended up having to grab Desma quickly and tilted the bike so that they slid under the lion. This caused the lion to give chase after them, and Naruto saw the silver claws of the lion destroying the road behind them. It's fangs bared at them, and for a split second Naruto was worried.

"This is BULLSHIT!" Naruto yelled in annoyance at the fact they haven't even gone ONE day and they already had a fight on their hands. Right now Naruto was very sure he was cursed with shitty luck when it came to missions.

"Just peddle!" Desma yelled in terror, because she was staring right at the damn thing and she finally remembered what the creature was. This was no ordinary lion, it was the Nemean Lion. A creature that had an impenetrable pelt, and that only Hercules had been able to truly defeat.

"What are the odds of us killing that thing?" Naruto asked her with a small amount of excitement in his voice. Now that he thought about it, this was what he wanted. To battle monsters, and gain trophies from each one.

"We have no chance!" Desma was now nearly crying in fear of this thing, and she missed the smile on Naruto's face.

"I like those odds!" Naruto said as he tripled the speed of his peddling, and shot ahead before turning the bike around and going right at the lion.

"You crazy bastard!" Desma yelled, and she was about to jump off of the bike before she saw Naruto take his left hand off the bike. He channelled chakra through his arm to keep what he was about to do from breaking his bones, and for Desma time went in slow motion as the claws of the lion were an inch from Naruto's face, while his fist was an inch away from the lion's nose.

"SUCK IT!" Naruto yelled when his fist knocked the lion off course, and the creature was forced to land on it's side as blood gushed out of the creature's nose. Naruto slowed the bike to a stop, and started to shake his bleeding fist with a pained hiss. Even with his chakra strengthening him, he had broken the skin, as well as a few bones in his hand from that.

"You broke the Nemean Lion's nose." Desma muttered in shock, before she saw the creature get up. Even with one of the few non-fur covered spots of it's body busted, it wasn't enough to make it want to give up this god-sent meal. The aura of a powerful immortal was coming off the blond boy, and such a meal would be more tasty than any normal demigod.

"Get your bow ready and back me up from long distance." Naruto said as he hopped off his bike and the bronze colored ring on his middle finger turned into his new dagger. Desma nodded and quickly started to use the bike to get some more distance away from the lion, because she would be no good in a close-range battle with such a creature. She had a bow and arrow for a reason! She sucked at fighting with any other weapons!

"Got it, and good luck!" Desma yelled from her new spot about fifty feet away, and Naruto nodded with a grin. Things had just started to get a lot more exciting than he thought they were going to be.

"Here kitty, kitty, kitty." Naruto said in a mocking voice, and he could tell he had irritated the Nemean Lion if the roars of rage were anything to go by. Naruto charged at the monster, and when the monster swung a mighty claw at Naruto, he grinned just before it hit. Twisting his body, the claw went over his body and Naruto swung his knife. He was shocked though when the lion was completely unhurt by the attack.

"Okay, so kitty has some bite to him." Naruto said blandly as he started to jump and flip through every attack the lion would send at him, while all his own didn't even pierce the lion.

Naruto ducked under the claws of the creature again, before standing up as fast as he could and headbutting the monster in it's open eye. Naruto blinked when the creature roared in pain, and he started to put two and two together. When Naruto had punched the nose, he had done damage, because the nose had no fur on it. When he had slashed at the fur he did no damage, and when he hit the eye, it had hurt the lion. Did this monster have some sort of defence related to it's fur?

_'I have a risky idea.'_ Naruto thought as he started to run wind chakra along the edge of his dagger, and this time when the creature tried to take a bite out of Naruto he dropped to his knees and let the creature pass over him. Raising his dagger up, he stabbed at the monster's stomach, and saw a very thin cut appear...painful, yet not deep enough to cause any real damage. The lion did roar in pain though, and kicked at Naruto's with it's hind leg.

A deep gash appeared on Naruto's shoulder, as his golden blood spilt on the road. Naruto winced in pain, before he rolled out of the way as the lion slashed at him again. Naruto winced worse when he rolled over on his injured shoulder, but he still channelled wind chakra through the knife, cutting through the pad on the underside of the lion's paw when it attacked again. Naruto saw an arrow hit the lion's side, but do no damage. The lion even ignored it in favor of forcing Naruto to roll to his feet to avoid getting his head ripped off.

Bringing his hands together in a cross shape he grinned as the lion got closer.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled, and in forty puffs of smoke a small army of clones appeared before him. All but two clones jumped at the lion, and each stuck themselves to the lion with chakra to slow it down. With five chakra powered Narutos on each leg the monster was no longer able to move it's legs, leaving it to become a sitting duck.

The original Naruto stood up a grin that held his knife between his teeth, and on each side a clone was groping at the air above Naruto's palms until golden orbs of swirling power appeared in each palm. Naruto looked at the golden colored Rasengans in his hands in shock as the clones poofed away.

Was this the result of so much of his godly blood activating, like with his now golden blood?

"HOLY SHIT!" Desma yelled as she watched the battle Naruto was having, and Naruto grimaced. He had completely forgotten that she was there, but it was to late now.

"Might as well test some new power." Naruto muttered with a small sigh as he started to walk forward to the restrained lion. thirty-eight clones of Naruto holding it down did not completely stop it, and that was pretty impressive. He picked up his speed until he was in a run, and then he popped two clones to give him enough room to hit the the beast.

The result...epic. It would seem that his new, golden version of the normal form of the Rasengan was just as powerful as the Big Ball Rasengan, and two huge trails ripped through the ground and expanded so that the lion was completely covered by the golden chakra. Naruto sighed in relief as he saw the the fur on the lion's body start to grind away, as gold dust started to hit the ground the lion was sent skidding across. Naruto winced and looked down at his palms and saw the some of the skin had been ripped off as well.

Soon though, he felt the pain in his shoulder and hands fade away as his new heightened healing factor took care of the wounds as if they had never been there. Naruto groaned though and took off his gold stained shirt and jacket, before he grimaced at it's condition. Rips and tears along the whole thing, and while still slightly usable it was not in condition for another fight.

Instinct kicked in at that moment, and Naruto jumped in the air and OVER the lion as it passed over him. Dust gushing out of it's side, and using his torn shirt he landed on the lion's back and wrapped the shirt around it's neck. Taking his knife out of his mouth, he channeled wind chakra once more and stabbed the creature right in the eye. More than deep enough to destroy the creature's brain.

Naruto smiled and jumped off the dead monster as it turned into into golden dust, leaving only a pelt behind as proof of Naruto's first victory. Picking up the pelt, he held it up in the air as a final sign of victory.

"You did it!" Desma shouted as she started to run towards him, and Naruto watched as the pelt transformed into a long-sleeved golden vest with a longer than normal collar that covered his neck, . Down the middle of the vest was a pure silver zipper for the vest, and Naruto didn't waste a moment to put on his victory trophy.

He needed a new shirt anyway for the journey.

"Yeah, and that thing was tough." Naruto said as stretched his limbs out, and Desma looked at him like he was insane. He took out the Nemean Lion like it was nothing, and has the gall to say something like that?

If only she knew the kinds of things Naruto had done in his old job and in his old life before being sent to camp, then this wouldn't be so surprising to her. Actually, if Naruto hadn't gotten that weird boost to his Rasengan at the end he was sure this would have been a lot more difficult to do. Not that he was complaining one bit, but he was still surprised. He had actually checked before, and before today his Rasengans had been blue.

"What the... what was THAT!?" Desma yelled as she pointed at the crater that Naruto's attack had made earlier, and Naruto tried to think up an excuse as quickly as he could. He was not going to tell this girl everything, mostly because he didn't trust her fully yet.

"My special...godly powers." Naruto said in a voice that fooled her into thinking he was telling the truth. It was half true, because compared to demigods shinobi powers were on another level, and you didn't even need an affinity for something to use a different jutsu. You could have a fire element, but if you trained hard enough you could learn to use water jutsu. Demigods were stuck with whatever powers they got from their parents, and that was it.

"Well...damn, there isn't much I can say to that. I'm still in shock that the Nemean Lion attacked us on our first day away from Camp. You must have a REALLY powerful aura to attract it so quickly." Desma said nervously, and with good reason. Naruto's aura would easily repel weaker monsters, while stronger monsters would flock to him if he stayed in one place for too long.

"What does that have to do with anything? I'll just kill anything that comes at us." Naruto asked with a curious look on his face. His flame-colored eyes gazed deeply into her soul, and liked always, she shivered when she met eyes with him. She was going to have to get him to wear sunglasses, because no matter how warm and loving those eyes were, they were still pretty scary. It was really like staring into the eyes of somebody that held your life in his hands.

He deserved his titles of Flame-Eyed Prince and Male Goddess.

"Monsters will come back, even if you kill them. They reform after enough time had passed." Desma lectured, and opened his mouth to speak for a moment. Then he closed it and thought about it for a moment. If every monster he killed just reformed, that meant he could fight them over and over to his heart's content without having to worry about them.

"So I can fight it again?" Naruto questioned her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, but they remember how you beat them last time, so they get tougher every time they lose." Desma said, hoping to prevent Naruto's train of thought.

"Awesome! I can't wait to see the Nemean Lion again, so I can kill it again!" Naruto said with a grin, and he went over to his bike and got on it. Desma shook her head and followed him anyway, mostly because she was finally getting the adventure she had trained for most of her life. She wasn't about to quit now, just when it was getting good.

_'Only this guy would want to fight the same monster again, even though it will be stronger than before.'_ Desma thought as she placed her hands on his waist. She looked at his arms and saw that the fact he wasn't wearing sleeves showed that he was more toned than even the other guys at the camp. That was impressive in it's own right, and she wondered how he got those muscles.

She would question Naruto about his cloning thing later, because she was pretty sure he would just lie to her again if she asked to soon.

"You're really warm." Desma commented with a strange look on her face when she noticed how hot Naruto's body was, and she didn't mean that in the romantic context. She meant that in the way that his body was actually a lot warmer than a human body should be.

"My mother is a goddess that deals with fire all the time, and can control fire. Fire is apart of my very being, and my body reflects that. Can't really help it." Naruto said as he started to pedal at a slower rate than before. It wasn't like they had a time limit or something, and there was the fact that Naruto was pretty happy with how soon he got to fight.

_'I can't believe I didn't even get to test out my new flame-based powers.'_ Naruto thought with a slight frown on his face. He really wanted to fight something soon that would push him to the limit, so that he could exceed his limits and grow that much stronger.

Growing stronger was in his very nature after all.

**- With Artemis -**

_'Now that is very interesting.'_ Artemis thought as she looked at the silver ring around the ring finger on her left hand. Her ring had another feature she had yet to tell Naruto about, and that was that it would tell her if he defeated any monsters while wearing the ring. It was only fitting that the huntress be alerted to when her future husband has slain a monster.

The fact that the monster he had slain was the Nemean Lion was a feat worthy of some of the most powerful demigods...not that Naruto could be called such a term with his blood. Yes, the term Near-God was much more correct in his case. Not that it mattered, because soon he would be a God... or rather a 'Male Goddess' as she had been informed about through watching what had been going on at the Camp before Naruto left.

"How funny, the Goddess of Chastity will be wed to the one that is called the Male Goddess. It makes me wonder what he will be a God of when he has turned." Artemis spoke to herself softly, and with amusement in her voice. The fact that people were already giving him labels when he had yet to show what he would be a god of was rather humorous, and she doubted that he would ever live down the one title she was sure he wasn't fond of.

What man liked to be called a Goddess after all?...but it was indeed fitting. Most of his blood did come from a Goddess after all.

She wondered what beast Naruto would 'hunt' next.


	7. Chapter 7

It had been about a week since the Nemean Lion had attacked the blond duo, and things hadn't been going as well as they has liked. The trouble wasn't with places to sleep, mostly because both of them were able to just sleep on the ground. They didn't get to cold because Desma and Naruto both put off a lot of heat, even if Naruto took the heat he gave off to a higher level. They were able to make great distance, even thought they had gotten off track five times and had to go back.

No, the problem was food.

Catching and skinning the food was easy, but cooking it was the problem. They had no trouble making a fire with Naruto there, but what was the problem was that the Naruto had the ability to taste things and eat through his connection. As the meat cooked he was able to taste the food, and he started to burn it out of instinct. It was like how most gods could smell the food you burn for them, no matter where they are. Naruto was able to taste food through fire when it was being made for him.

Sometimes being mostly god was a bit troublesome, because while he had enough human in him right now that he didn't have to follow to many of the codes gods were restricted by, he also had attributes he shared with them. He could bless and curse people, even though he didn't know exactly how. People could seek his favor, and he could grant them gifts... also unable at the moment due to lack of knowledge. He couldn't truly be killed, and even if he was killed he would become a full god if that happened.

It actually made her slightly scared of pissing him off, because he would one day become a god. That much was promised to happen no matter what, because all he needed were the blessings of another few gods or to die and boom... instant god. His aura was so powerful that he was like monster repellant for weaker monsters, and every other monster wanted a piece of them... which was why they were in.

"Well aren't you an ugly fucker." Naruto commented in a cocky voice as he and Desma stared down the creature in front of them. Desma palmed her face when the giant creature, easily bigger than the Nemean Lion huffed at them. She could not believe their bad luck when it came to fighting monsters, and as if to prove her point another monster jumped out from behind the giant monster.

"That is the Colchis Bull, and a Hellhound." Desma commented with a twitching eye as she levelled her bow at the Hellhound. The first creature was a huge mechanical bull made of bronze with silver horns, and it was about the size of a fully grown elephant. She could feel the heat this thing was putting off from here, and new that she would be useless against it. The Colchis Bull had metal skin that was burning hot to the touch, and could breath fire. Not something she could deal with when she only had a very slight immunity to heat, and not full immunity like Naruto.

So she would gain glory by slaying the Hellhound, a black furred giant god with glowing red eyes. This creature took the size of a small rhino, and it was growling at them with a hungry look in it's eyes.

"I repeat and correct myself, you are BOTH ugly fuckers." Naruto said, before the bull rushed the two of them. The Hellhound stayed back for a moment, as if waiting for the bull to do all the work for it.

"You are an ass!" Desma shouted in annoyance as she jumped out of the way of the charging bull, and pulled a golden arrow out of her backpack and shot it at the Hellhound. The dog creature jumped out of the way, and growled at her but stayed put.

"I know what I am thank you very much." Naruto commented to the young demigod as he ducked under the raging bull. Channelling chakra through his arm he punched the bull in one of it's back legs, but winced when his fist hit metal. He was completely unaffected by the heat, but lets face it. Naruto had just punched metal, and that would hurt.

Desma just twitched and pulled three arrows out of her backpack and put them all on the bow, and took aim at the Hellhound. She was about to fire, before she saw the Hellhound vanish into the shadows.

"What?" Desma muttered in confusion, before he heard a sound behind her and twirled around with her bow pointed right into the mouth of the Hellhound about to take her head off. Letting the arrows loose she was happy when all three pierced into the brain off the creature, the hound was dead before it hit the ground. That was not her problem though, because as the creature started to fall it landed right on her and sent her skidding with it. "Get this thing off me!" She shouted in annoyance at the heavy weight on her legs.

"That's what she said!" Naruto yelled back at her in humor, before he was tackled by the Colchis Bull and sent high into the air. Correcting himself in mid-air he was able to use his chakra to stick to the neck of the bull, and he grabbed the bull by the horns as he jumped around to try and knock him off.

"Get this thing off me, this thing's weight is crushing me, this is all your fault!" Desma yelled as she spoke in a haiku like her dad did for fun sometimes. She sighed in relief when the giant god turned into golden dust, and all that was left was the creature's fangs. She watched as the teeth started to shrink down, and reform into a fang-tooth necklace. Picking it up she placed it around her neck, and made herself look even more like a surfer chick than before.

"Haha! Ride 'em cowboy!" Naruto shouted with an ever-present battle grin while he rode the top of the bull, enraging the demented bull further. The thing bucked as much as it could, but a chakra-enhanced person like Naruto was able to hang on easily. The bull even tried to jump and Naruto stayed strong, mostly from previous experience with giant toads actually.

"Stop playing around and kill it already!" Desma shouted up at him as she walked over to the bike with a very bad limp. Her legs were more bruised from having the beast fall on her than she had thought, and she would not be walking straight for days, before she heard a loud noise. Looking over to Naruto she saw that he had ripped the head of the mechanical bull off by using the horns.

Naruto jumped from the body to the ground, while holding the horns above his own head. The horns shrank down in size so that they were only a foot long each, and Naruto nodded to himself.

"How's that going to fit...?" Desma started ask, before she saw him toss one of the horns into the bike's basket. She was about to ask what he was going to do with the other one, before he tossed it to her.

"Hold onto that will you? You never know when we might have to bargain with somebody, and it would be good to have that to make an offer." Naruto commented as she put the horn in her backpack with a nod. One of the horns of the Colchis Bull would go for a lot of Drachma, and you never know when you would need more Drachma.

"Got it, so where are we now?" Desma asked when she saw Naruto take his map out of his pocket, and look at it with serious expression. Unlike other maps this one never really showed what states were in the country, just the compass and the dots that showed certain locations.

'The closest dots were silver, blue, and green dots clumped together. Artemis and her Hunters are maybe a dozen miles South of here.' Naruto thought before he saw the green dot fade away, and the silver and blue dots start to move towards his orange dot. Looking at the map he saw the closet dot not related to Artemis and her Second-in-Command was a yellow dot.

**New Jersey - Garden Gnome Shop**

Naruto folded the map up and started to pedal towards the location on the map, and while he would marry Artemis when he next saw her, he wanted to marry her on _HIS_ terms. He would go to her when he was ready to join her, and not a moment sooner. He was only sixteen, and was not in a rush to get married right now.

"Where are we headed towards?" Desma asked as the two of them went at a slower rate than they normally did.

"Something called a Gnome shop...whatever a gnome is." Naruto said as he started to pedal a little faster, and Desma had to hold on tighter. From what the map said the shop was about 150 miles to the West, so he was in no real rush. He could run that distance in a few hours if he wanted to, but he was pretty sure that Desma wouldn't like to go to fast this time. He had seen her limp, and going fast would put stress on her body.

"Gnomes are like things you put on your yard." Desma commented dryly, and she could not really understand why he would want to go to a Gnome shop. It was kinda boring in her opinion, but she was just tagging along with him so it was his choice. Not to mention the bike was a gift from his mother, and it was his strength that was getting them around.

"... Change of course." Naruto commented as he started to go in the direction of the Junkyard they had been planning on going to in the first place. Finding some cool treasure in a junkyard was much cooler than buying something to put in your lawn. Maybe he could even find something his mother had thrown away at some point, and who knows, maybe they could even fight something cool because they touched something they weren't suppose to.

"Back to the Junkyard?" Desma asked with a small grin on her face. She blushed though when her stomach made it's hunger known, and nartuo slowed the bike to a stod.

"Hungry?" Naruto asked as he drew a normal kunai to prepare to go hunting in the woods nearby, and with a nod she got off the bike with him and sat on the ground. While Naruto hunted, she would use her bow to guard the bike, and there stuff. Naruto was about to leave the area to hunt, before a soothing voice echoed through his mind.

Use your power my Child. Use them, and you can summon food.

'What the fuck?' Naruto thought in shock, because usually the only voice in his head was the Kyuubi. The fact this voice was warm and loving meant it wasn't the angry fuzzy in his head. Desma looked at Naruto with a worried look as he cupped his hands together, and in his palms rested a flame. The flame blazed for a few seconds, before it faded away to show a bowl filled his... ramen?

'He really is the child of Hestia.' Desma thought as she watched Naruto use one of the many fabled powers of Hestia, and honestly it was one of the more useful ones in her opinion. The ability to create delicious homemade food out of nothing was one of the many powers of Hestia that Naruto seemed to have gotten from her.

Naruto on the other hand sipped at the ramen broth, and his eyes widened in joy. It was the most delicious ramen he had ever tasted in his LIFE! Not even Ichiraku Ramen was as good as this! He greedily drank up the ramen, noodles and all before he sat across from Desma and looked at the empty bowl. Concentrating again Naruto turned the bowl into fire, before he tried to think of another food.

"Do you have a favorite food?" Naruto asked with a small smile in place. His flame colored eyes beaming at the new power he was able to use, and one that would make life so much easier!

He was going to have to thank his Mom a LOT more than he had planned!

**-With Hestia -**

"Your welcome Naruto, glad to know you enoy having one of my powers." Hestia commented to herself as she used a stick to poke at the fire she was watching Naruto through. Unlike her other children who had never awakened her powers, Naruto was unlike Demi-gods in another way. Most children to the gods only got a few of their parents powers, while Naruto would be able to use ALL her powers eventually.

She was the Goddess that didn't just deal with the Hearst. She dealt with nearly everything that dealt with family and home as well. Things that were apart of home were part of her power. Like summoning home cooked meals, or even showing people the past or present of family members. She could control everything to do with fire. A lot of her powers were not based around battle, but her battle powers were extremely strong as well.

Fire was one of the most destructive forces of nature, and could destroy whole forests in minutes.

The power to summon food though was one of her favorite ones, because nothing brought a family together like a home cooked meal... a meal she one day hoped to share with her most beloved person. Her lovely son. She didn't even mind the fact that Hera was able to summon food like she could.

"One day I will make you some ramen by hand. Just you wait and see, and then we can finally speak face to face my child." Hestia said, and if anyone was around to see her they would think she was weird. Like most of the time she was in the form of a beautiful twelve year old girl with short brown hair and flaming red eyes. Her clothes were a brown dress with a rope around her stomach, and she wore a cloak around her shoulder with the hood over her head.

She looked at the flame again and the image of her son vanished, out of the flame her own bowl of ramen appeared with some chopsticks. She looked at her reflection in the broth, and saw her pupiless flame eyes looking back at her. It truly made her happy that when she had claimed Naruto he had gotten her flame colored eyes. Their eyes were proof of the bond the two of them shared, and nothing could break it.

_'I rather like ramen myself.'_ Hestia thought as she ate her ramen quietly, and she made Naruto's image of him eating with Desma appear in the fire. This gave her some form of comfort, because she could pretend she was eating with him. Ramen was something Kushina Uzumaki had actually gotten Hestia into in the small amount of time the two knew each other. Kushina was kind of like a... friend to Hestia. The relationship was rather strange between them, but that was mostly because Kushina had been carrying Hestia's child inside her for ten of the months they knew each other.

The girl had a red hot hair, and a personality to match. The fact she valued family above all else made Hestia like the girl even more. Somebody that treasured family was Hestia's kind of person, and like she had said before. Kushina had hair that was the same color as the embers of a fire.

Hestia liked fire.

"I wonder what you will do next, my child?" Hestia asked herself with a small smile on her face, with some ramen noodles hanging from the side of her mouth. She used a stick to poke at the flames some more, and the image shifted to show what she was thinking about. what she wanted more than anything else in the world. The image she had been using and changing as Naruto aged.

It was the image of the two of them coated in flames, and sharing their first hug as mother and son.


	8. Chapter 8

"Russellville, Arkansas huh?" Naruto said as he looked at his map and pointed at his own dot, and when he had travelled to a southern area he had expected for the weather to be...dryer. He expected it mostly because it was in the middle of summer, and the city before this one was undergoing a heat wave. The moisture he could feel in the air right now was so thick that water was forming on everything, and it was really annoying him.

"I hate was this is doing to my hair." Desma commented dryly as she tried to flatten her frizzy hair, and she was annoyed by the fact that the second they had entered the city the tires of Naruto's bike had popped.

"I am more worried about the Divine Presence that is in the city here. It is much more potent that my own, but not as controlled." Naruto commented as he felt the layer of energy that seemed to surround the whole city. Unlike his own energy that had a small amount of human in it, this one was nearly ALL divine in nature. No, this energy also had some monster energy in it.

"A god or goddess?" Desma asked with raised eyebrows, and Naruto narrowed his eyes for a second. The energy was very similar to a god or goddess, but it felt more primal. This power also felt younger than either Artemis or Mr.D from the camp.

"Maybe, but either way I believe we should check this out." Naruto said as he started to walk towards the city, and the second they entered the city boundaries they were both his with a wave of nausea. Desma actually had to run over to the side of the lake they were near and throw up, and Naruto knelt down to her side and gave her a few pats on the back. When she was done she had decided that she would comment.

"I don't think whatever that Divine presence is wants us here." Desma said with a light grin, yet her pale face said differently. Naruto's eyes widened when he felt a presence appear, and he turned around to see a white mist start to form and take the general shape of a young male. No features were shown, and when the figure spoke Naruto's eyes widened at the layers voice.

"Demigod of Apollo, and Male Goddess...if you enter my domain I do not promise you will leave." The figure said before it started to vanished, as the mist it was made out of started to dissipate into the wind.

"Not creepy at all...and I wish they didn't call me that! I HATE the "Male Goddess" nickname!" Naruto commented, before he felt the same energy from earlier start to move underground. He grabbed Desma and jumped out of the way as hands made of bones came out of the ground and made a grab at them. Naruto summoned a fireball in his hand, and threw it at the hands sticking from the ground. The second the fire hit the ground it expanded and made a small crater about seven feet long, and four feet deep. He sighed in relief when the hands stopped coming from the ground.

"Maybe we should leave." Desma said with a small amount of fear in her voice. Though that could be because Necromany was a skill that only people connected to a god or goddess of the dead were able to use, and this person also used the Mist to fit his needs.

"No, I think that we should see what this guy is like." Naruto said with a light frown on his face. When he had saw the white mist he had gotten a better read on the energy that this guy had, and it wasn't evil in nature. Just powerful, and more primal. Not only that, but it felt kind of... lonely.

"No, I am out of here this time." Desma said as she turned to leave this city, only to see that when she tried to leave she would be surrounded by mist. She ran though the mist for a few minutes, before when she left the mist she saw that she was right where she started.

"Looks like we can't leave anyway." Naruto commented with a frown as he watched her try again a few more times, and each time she ended up right where she started. She ended up giving up on escaping, and started to walk next to Naruto.

"Okay, so we find this guy and ask him to let us leave." Desma said with a stubborn look on her face, and Naruto rolled his eyes. He didn't want to fight this guy either, but maybe talking to this person will get them to let them leave. I was worth a shot, and what was the worst that this person could do to them?

"Yeah, but the problem is where would we find him?" Naruto asked out loud, before the two of them heard a rumbling noise. She thought about it for a second, and tried to put any clues together. This person uses dead bodies as a weapon, so maybe a graveyard? No, it didn't even matter because pretty much the whole city was a graveyard at this point.

"I have no clue, but lets check the middle of what is left of the city first." Desma said, and for the first time Naruto actually looked towards the city and gasped at what he saw. The building of the city were destroyed, and trees grew out of the rubble of what was left of the city. Animals could be seen running around, and that wasn't all, tending to the plants were dozens of Nymphs. Each of them ignoring everything around them, with their only concern being the trees and flowers.

"No dead bodies." Naruto noticed as they walked through the remains of the city, and that was strange. No dead bodies, so signs of fighting, no blood on the ground at all. It was like everyone in the city had vanished before the city was destroyed. He couldn't even smell death in the air, so nobody was dead either.

"That's weird...the animals!" Desma shouted when she realized what had happened, and yet she was still ignored by the blank eyed Nymphs around them.

"What about the animals?" Naruto asked with a raised eyebrow, and Desma looked at him like he was an idiot for a moment. Then she remembered that Naruto didn't know very much about Greek mythology, so he wouldn't see anything familiar about this.

"Gods and Goddesses have the power to turn humans into animals, or even objects. They can even turn girls into the nymphs around us if they want to." Desma stated, and Naruto sighed in relief. This proved that the person just wanted to be left alone, but was not very violent. The reason they weren't turned into animals or nymphs when they entered the city was because they had their parents protection, which was why they had felt so sick when they entered the city.

"At least he shows some kind of care towards peoples lives." Naruto commented with a slight smile, happy they weren't dealing with somebody that was truly evil. He was a person that just wanted to be left alone, and prefered nature over cities...or maybe he liked nature over the ruins of cities?

They were interrupted from their thoughts when they saw purple flames appear in front of them, before the flames vanished and they saw two monsters appear. Two monsters that they knew they had already defeated before now, and both monsters glared at Naruto with hatred in their eyes.

The Nemean Lion and the Colchic Bull were back, and judging from the looks on their faces, they remembered Naruto!

"Shit!" Naruto yelled as he grabbed Desma and jumped out of the way as the bull charged at them with death in it's glare, and he cursed again when he saw the Nemean Lion jump over the bulls back right at them. Naruto threw Desma to the side, before he grabbed the lions paw and spun himself around to toss the lion at the bronze bull. Naruto grunted when he was hit in the side by the bulls mechanical tail, and sent skidding across the ground.

Two more flames appeared, and Naruto saw two new figures come out of the fire before the flames vanished. The first looked like a mix between human and bull, while the second looked like a like a giant person with only one eye.

"The Minotaur, and a Cyclops!" Desma yelled in true fear as she saw four dangerous monsters all start to surround Naruto, and she took her bow out and aimed an arrow at the closest target. With a twang she sent a golden arrow into the shoulder of the Cyclops, but it had very little effect on the monster. Naruto had to jump out of the way from the charging bull man, and he saw the Cyclops's fist coming at him.

Creating a fireball in his hand, he threw it at the cyclops. This caused Naruto to move away from the monster, and Naruto almost grinned, before he saw that the monster had been unaffected by his attack. It was completely unhurt!

"MY EYE!" The cyclops yelled in pain, and for a moment Naruto saw a golden arrow sticking out of it's eye. Naruto ran at the monster to finish it off, before he retreated in favor of dodging the claws of the nemean lion.

"Desma! Look out!" Naruto yelled just as Desma was smacked by one of the cyclops's hands, and sent flying through one of the crumbling walls of a fallen building.

"... I'm okay... my legs and ribs hurt, but I'm okay. I landed on a nymph!" Desma yelled, and he saw her hiding behind the crumbling wall a few moment later. She was going to use this spot to help him out, and fire arrows from here.

"Good." Naruto said to himself as he jumped onto the back of the Minotaur and covered his hand in flames. Making a stabbing motion his hand burned through the skull of the monster, and Naruto summoned his knife and jumped off the falling Minotaur to jump at the blinded cyclops. The cyclops smelled him coming, and leaned back so that Naruto sailed passed him. Naruto was then tackled by the bull, and he moved his body enough so that the horn only gave him a slightly deep gash on his leg.

In retrospect maybe he should have made it aim for his chest, because he was wearing a vest made of the Nemean lions fur. That would have protected him, but to bad for him he had forgotten about that fact until now.

Naruto kicked off the ground into the air, and the formed a Shadow Clone. Holding his hand out, Naruto and the shadow clone started to form a rasengan in his hand. Then as the tow started to fall the rasengan changed shape, so that four small blades of wind came out of the sides.

"Futon: Rasengan!" Naruto yelled as he thrust the rasengan into the nemean lions neck just as it tried to take another bite out of him. The lion's head separated from it's body, and it's body turned into gold dust. It only left it's pelt around again, signalling it's second defeat at Naruto's hands.

"Suck on this!" Desma shouted as she shot an arrow, and this time she aimed it right into the cyclops's mouth and pierced it through the brain. It exploded in golden dust, leaving only the horn on top of it's head behind as proof.

"Good job!" Naruto yelled to her, before Naruto saw the bull rushing him again. Taking his knife he waited for the bull's mouth to open, before he threw it down the creatures throat and it exploded into gold dust like all the other monsters. Looking around he looked at the transformed items on the ground, and saw the horn had turned into a keychain, the Minotaur's horn had turned into a smaller version of itself, the bulls remains because a bronze pen. The lion's pelt had turned into a golden pair of pants.

"Holy SHIT!" Desma yelled as she ran up and grabbed her her own item, the keychain from the cyclops. The other three were Naruto's, and she saw him fall to his knee and grab his leg in pain. She rushed over to him and saw the cut on his leg was still bleeding, and had only healed a small amount at the moment.

'Fox! Give me some damn chakra!' Naruto yelled in his thought, and he sighed in relief when the foxes chakra seeped into his body and healed his leg the rest of the way. He stopped the flow of the beast's chakra, and he was glad that his eyes didn't change color with the use of the foxes chakra this time. Normally he could feel when the chakra changed his eye color, because certain colors were more pronounced than others.

"That was summoning magic." Desma said out loud with a frown on her face, and she was sure of one thing as she watched Naruto said back up and collect his prizes.

Things had just gotten a little harder than they had thought.


	9. Chapter 9

"We must be getting close." Naruto said to Desma, and she looked at him like he was stupid. Of course they were getting close, because on the way here they had defeated at least a dozen of the bone creatures... and they didn't even get the chance to stock up on their victory spoils either.

"Less talk, more run." Desma bit back at him sarcastically as they both jumped out of the way as a giant reptile head crashed right into where they had been standing, before Naruto grabbed Desma and jumped on top of another head and used it to dodge a third head. Used a wind blade he quickly formed in his head to slice off the three heads, before six heads quickly grew back in their places... and now the total head count was twenty three heads on a giant body. Desma smacked him in the back of the head roughly. "Will you forget the head-slicing thing!" Desma yelled, but as Naruto cut all the heads off again.

46 heads...

"I have a plan." Naruto said simply as he looked at the front legs of the creature started to bend, and he tossed Desma safely into the trees before he cut the whole group of heads off again by jumping into the fold and swinging randomly.

92 heads...

The creature's knees were starting to give out under it's own weight, and it no longer had the ability to walk around without falling over. Using the creature's heads as a springboard, Naruto jumped up high into the air and created a few dozen shadow clones, before every clone formed a Rasengan in their hands and started falling from the sky. They shoved each one into the main body of the Hydra and ground most of it's body to golden dust. Naruto jumped away from the destruction just as the Rasengans all blew up in a gold explosion of chakra and dust.

When Desma came out of the trees, she was happy to see the Hydra killed, and Naruto bolding a necklace made of linked together, smaller versions of the hydra's fangs. Naruto placed it around his neck, and they ended up giving him a more fierce look.

_'Every fight, I get a little stronger.'_ Naruto thought with a light grin and he gripped his fist tightly, before he was hit in the back of the head by Desma. Naruto blinked and looked at her to see her covered in sticks and leaves, before he grinned at how she apparently landed when he threw her. She really was not happy with him for doing that.

"Okay, you have to be a complete idiot or a genius to use the weight of that monsters heads against it." Desma stated with a flat tone, and Naruto couldn't help but laugh at how she said that. Normally people would stop cutting off the heads, but Naruto just kept cutting them off until the front of it's body weighed too much to hold up. Then there was the chance the heads would fight each other when they got to cramped. In the end, his true secret to defeating the Hydra was cutting it's heads off and using it's ability to grow heads against it. Naruto was a master of making more of himself, so he knew more than anyone that sometimes two heads were NOT better than one.

"Hey, an idiot is only an idiot until their ideas work. Then they are called geniuses." Naruto corrected her in a way that he called himself a genius. He liked to brag every once and awhile, and he was pretty sure that he had earned it. They had been fighting non-stop, with him doing much more work than her. Desma looked at him plainly, before she coughed into her hand.

"You are arrogant, but it is in your charm, it will bite your ass." Desma said with a flat tone to her voice as she showed one of her traits as Apollo's children. She blinked when a stray though came to her mind. If Naruto was the child of Hestia, and she was the daughter of Apollo wouldn't that make Naruto her uncle in a way? She shivered in horror at the thought that she was related to this insane guy. She and Naruto both looked on in annoyance when even more monsters started to pop out of nowhere, some of which they had already defeated...TODAY!

"I can't be the only one pissed about this..." Naruto muttered with an annoyed glare at the twenty-or-so monsters standing in front of them. The fucking Nemean Lion was once more glaring at him as he was forcefully brought back by the person that was controlling the city. Naruto glared right back at the lion, before Desma pulled on his shirt and pointed behind them. Naruto paled when he saw thirty hellhounds behind them, and on either side of them were ten skeletal soldiers.

"I think we have a problem." Desma said meekly, and for once Naruto fully agreed with her when it came to this situation. Fighting 80 or more of these types of enemies was NOT what he considered to be fun, but the more monsters they fought the less energy the enemy would have when they eventually came face to face with them. Naruto forced himself to calm down, before he hooked his arm around the younger girl's waist and jumped up just in time as two hellhounds came crashing down at the location he had been standing at.

"Good news, the guy must be close." Naruto stated as he raised his hand into the air and formed a golden rasengan with fire filling it to the brim. Naruto added more and more power to the attack, before he threw it towards the ground right where the monsters were. In a inferno of blazing flames the monsters were completely burnt to a crisp, with only the Nemean Lion remaining slightly burnt. The lion roared at him, before the revived creature turned away and started to run away to fight another day against the blond that had defeated him multiple times.

"That was HOT!" Desma said with a grin on her face, before she was smacked in the back of the head by Naruto. He was not about to have lame puns being delivered by anyone but him, it was his job to make lame jokes at bad times. She glared at him while holding the back of her head with small tears in her eyes, it may have been a playful smack but it stung like crazy. She was sure that this guy had some form of freaking super strength to be able to do something like this. He jumped like fifty feet in the air like it was no trouble after all, and she was about to lecture him before the ground opened up to reveal a hidden door.

_Enter..._

"... Did you hear that?" Naruto asked curiously, not wanting to admit that the voice was creeping him out somewhat. The door itself looked like it was something you would see when you were about to go to the underworld, or die in some hellish way. The gate was covered in bones, and the door itself looked like it was made from heavily burned up wood. Blackened by the flames of the worst hell imaginable, and the two of them looked at each other for moment before Desma had enough.

"Okay, are we really dumb enough to listen to a demonic voice telling us to enter an obviously evil room?" Desma asked blandly, and Naruto had to think about it for a second and the two of them shared another look in the others direction. They both started to pale when they realized they were idiots big enough to do what they were about to do. The second thery made up their minds, the door started to open all on it's own and white mist started to pour out of the room.

"Yes, we are dumb enough." Naruto said as the two of them started to run towards the door without even thinking of the downsides of running towards something with as much power as Naruto himself.

The Child of Apollo and the Male Goddess passed through the door without a care in the world, only one word came to Naruto's mind as he passed into the gate.

Victory.


	10. Chapter 10

Naruto held up his hand and focused on the thought of fire, in response, it was enveloped in flames like a torch so he and Desma could see. They were dealing with magic, after all. And if this guy they were dealing with someone that could summon monster armies, they couldn't be too careful. And getting blindsided underground because they couldn't see was bad in any situation.

Desma looked grim as the opening they had just come through vanished like a mirage, leaving a bare surface and trapping them in this place.

Naruto's eyes widened as an ethereal purple lige erupted further down the cavern they were in and when it faded, there was the orange-red of flames in its place and there was a silhouette casting a shadow where the light was coming from.

The two demigods whipped their attention to the other flame as it neared them, what was odd was it shaped oddly, like it was lopsided and pouring over or something...and what was that sound? Metal hitting stone in regular intervals.

Naruto and Desma tensed and Naruto extinguished his fire, then wrapped his arms around his younger companion's waist and lept to the ceiling, sticking to it with chakra, ready to get the jump on whatever was coming their way.

When the flame got right to where they were, Naruto stared and Desma paled.

It was a girl, but one of the weirdest Naruto had ever seen. Her hair was flames, she had red eyes, her skin was pale white and her teeth were fangs and that wasn't the weirdest part. Her left leg was brown and shaggy with a donkey's hoof. The right leg was shaped like a prosthetic human leg, but it was made of bronze.

She looked around and then Naruto released his chakra flow, causing the duo to get the drop on the monster-girl...literally. They landed in a heap and the two half-bloods wrestled her until Naruto eventually got his celestial bronze hunting knife against her throat and she froze while Desma got to her feet, walked around to the front and notched an arrow and aimed it at the female monster.

"Ok...who...or _what_...are you?" Naruto asked.

The monster-girl held up her hands as if she were ordered to do so by the police.

"Easy! Easy! I'm not here to fight! The name's Serephone. I'm an empousa, a servant of Hecate, the Goddess of magic." she said.

Naruto and Desma looked to one another and shrugged. A goddess-serving demoness named Serephone? Sure, why not? Not like that seemed any weirder than anything else that was happening here in Russellville.

Serephone looked over them and spoke, trying to sound casual, which wasn't easy. Monster or not, it was difficult to be calm when had weapons aimed at you.

"So you're the ones, and I take it you're that son of Hestia. The Being Born of Fire, the demigod from that ninja-based world." she said, looking at Naruto and smiled, exposing her fangs. Not bad. She'd prefer him shirtless, though. She WAS a seduction demon, after all. It didn't surprise her that the huntress had set her sights on such a fine specimen, she had a knack for determining the value of a living creature she set her sights on after all, it must have been a hunter thing, the demoness figured.

Naruto tensed and his eyes widened. "Who told you about me?!" he demanded.

"Scrying is a magical practice of looking into a translucent ball or other material with the belief that things can be seen, such as spiritual visions, and less often for purposes of divination or fortune-telling. I serve the goddess of magic, hard to hide things from her unless other Gods are involved." Serephone said.

"Oh-Kaaay...so are you here to kill us too?" Naruto asked.

She shook her head as minutely as possible, "Far from it. Our Mistress, Lady Hecate, told me about you both, I was told to serve as your guide here. Orders from up top...Oh, and do me a favor small favor: Don't mention the legs."

Naruto grinned, "Don't call me"Male Goddess" and your kind have all got a deal."

The demoness laughed. Fair enough. He hated that nickname and empousa hated when someone mentioned their mismatched legs. Mutual agreement to overlook what caused them both annoyance was something that was easy to agree on. "Can't speak for the rest of my race, but I can agree to that." she said.

"So what do you mean, you were told to guide us?" Desma asked.

"Don't you think it's a little bit funny that the demigod who currently owns this place wants you to leave, yet the Mist prevents your ability to do so," Serephone said, "my mistress wants you two here to handle this situation. And I will not cross the Dark Lady. I'm swear on the River Styx that I'm here to help you and mean you no harm while you see to resolving the matters here." she said and the crashing roar of thunder was suddenly heard.

"Uh...Take it that's serious?" Naruto said. Seriously, hearing thunder underground? He knew enough about weird things from back home to know that things like that didn't happen without reason.

"Breaking an oath on the Styx is extremely unwise for anyone due to the fact that once you swear upon it, the three Fates are watching them. When you break such an oath...Whatever, just don't do it. There are worse things than death." Desma muttered to Naruto.

Naruto nodded. Keep to your word. He got up and pulled his knife away and helped her stand before he addressed Hecate's servant, "Alright then...but if you try turning on us after we're done with this, you'll regret it." he warned.

Serephone nodded, prior to her arrival in this underground city, she'd been warned by Hecate that this young man wasn't someone that you wanted as an enemy.

"Follow me, I can show you the correct path. Able to sense magic...lot of traps here." Serephone stated.

Naruto and Desma shared a glance, neither of them trusted the demon, but she was bound to her oath and who knew what Hecate would do to her if she broke it.

She turned around and led the pair down the halls and they knew they were going lower and lower until they stopped and gawked at where they were. A underground cave. The ceiling of the entire place glowed with blue bioluminescent light. There was a white fog that clung to the ground and spread out in every direction. But what really caught the attention of the two demigods was the massive palace in the center of cavern.

The palace itself looked like a very oversized mausoleum, was made completely from pure black obsidian. The palace's glimmering black towers reached the ceiling. Runes and glyphs in every language glowed in pale, almost sinister colors along the temple and the cavern. Undoubtedly for some rather nasty arcane wards.

Naruto stepped forward and motioned for Desma and Serephone to stay back, then formed a quick clone. The duplicate grimaced, yet nodded and stepped forward towards the temple.

"What are you...?" Desma asked.

"If you want to test waters, toss something in and see how far it sinks." Naruto muttered.

Serephone nodded. "Smart, testing the defenses with a copy. Never be reckless when it comes to magic. Trust me, serving Hecate teaches that very quickly."

As the clone neared the temple, one of the runes glowed bright and shattered, releasing the energy that it contained and everyone was blinded, Naruto jerked as he felt his clone die and when their vision returned, they wish it hadn't seen what did it.

Serephone winced "Oh. that's bad."

Standing before the temple was a thirty-foot tall scorpion. Its pincers snapping and it tail raised. It scuttled and turned towards the three intruders.

"THAT thing?! Oh, that's just a slap in the face!" Desma moaned.

"Why you saying that?!" Naruto demanded.

"Trust me, there isn't a child of Apollo that doesn't know that scorpion." she said grimly.

Naruto wondered about why that was for a split second, before the thing charged them like a flung his hands forward and flames shot from them, causing the scorpion to let out what sounded like a screech from it's mandibles.

"Run!" Naruto shouted, keeping the fire going. The scorpion thrashed it's tail left and right in frustration, unfortunately striking the wall and knocking stones loose from the roof and they fell on top of Naruto's blaze, smothering it under the rubble.

Shit!

The Scorpion crawled over the rocks and seemed to leer at them, Naruto's fist roared with flames and he thrust it forward. The column of fire sent at the insect made it seem to screech and backed away quickly to avoid the flames.

The trio scattered and the giant arachnid went after Naruto first, as though it were compelled to for some reason, and caught his leg in one of it's pincers. It was seemingly frothing at the mouth, as if eager to eat.

Not liking the idea of having this thing eat him as much as the Scorpion did, Naruto channeled chakra into his knife and brought it down, but the blade bounced off the chitin harmlessly. Naruto's eyes widened. Even with wind chakra augmenting it, his weapon couldn't pierce the thing?!

The scorpion, clearly feeling that one good turn deserved another, since Naruto had tried to "sting" it, sent it's own stinger rushing at him and got him full in the chest.

Naruto looked at it, it was touching him and pressing into his chest, but he wasn't dead. The impact had been dull, like a push, but hadn't hurt him or even damaged his clothes.

Naruto couldn't tell who was more stunned. Himself, his allies, or the monster. He shook it off quickly and grinned. _'Thank you, Nemean lion!' _he thought, glad for the vest and pants made of the indestructible lion pelt.

"Let go of him!" Serephone commanded the scorpion. Naruto didn't see what good telling it that would do if his blade or Desma's arrows wouldn't, but to Naruto's shock, the bug released his legs. He stared for a second, then leapt back and away, flooding chakra into his legs as he did so to add further distance.

He twisted his body in midair and landed feet-first on the wall, "How'd you do that?" he demanded.

"Charmspeak. It's a type of hypnotism or persuasion in which it allows the speaker to convince someone else to do or get whatever they want. Once it wears off, the person has no recollection of why they did what they were commanded to do." Serephone said, then looked thoughtful before she leered at Naruto with a downright predatory smile, "Come to think of it... I wouldn't mind seeing you dancing in my palm, Fireboy." she told him.

"Won't work, on account of this ring Artemis gave me, told me to think of it as an engagement present. As long as I'm wearing this ring, I'm great with a bow and arrow skills, can learn to speak to beings of nature, but not only that...as long as I'm wearing the ring, no other woman other than Artemis will ever get to me, if you know what I'm saying." Naruto said.

"Is now the time for that kind of conversation?!" Desma shouted, firing arrows that bounced harmlessly off the monster's chiton. "Damnit! My arrows can't peirce this thing!"

"Just be careful with those things!They're all pure Imperial Gold arrows. Definitely Apollo's style, but if Imperial Gold is broken it would cause an explosion powerful enough to create a thirty-foot-deep crater in a mountain!" Serephone shouted.

At that, Naruto's his eyes widened.

Wait...Charmspeak...Artemis's ring...Bow and arrow...explosion...fire...

"I've got an idea for how we can kill that thing. But you'll think I'm completely insane!"

"Better crazy than dead!" Desma shouted as she kept shooting.

"Desma, give me your bow and an arrow, Serephone, charmspeak this sucker and get the thing to stop moving and have its claws and tail out of the way, also, I'll need it's mandibles open as wide as possible!"

They stared at him, but they figured that what he had in mind was better than nothing.

Reaching into his ninja tool pouch, Naruto produced an explosive tag as Desma tossed the Pyroman her weapon and wrapped the tag around the middle of the arrow's shaft.

"Scorpion, stand still for a few seconds, tail and claws out of the way, mandibles open as wide as possible." Serephone said in the sweetest tone she could muster and as the Charmspeak took hold of the monster's mind and compelled it to obey, Naruto fired.

As the arrow flew, the sound of hissing issued from the weapon, and the attached tag slowly dissolving, even as it vanished into the scorpion's open jaws.

A second later the explosive note went off, and apparently destroyed the golden arrow. Naruto's face scrunched up with concentration, "GAAAHHH!" Naruto screamed as he clutched his head in pain a wrenching pull made him feel like his brain was being ripped from his skull through his nasal cavity. And if that wasn't enough his nose started leaking blood, while his head was pounding like mad. Spots danced before his eyes and he felt himself falling to the ground and laid unconscious...

For the benefit of those that have never been rendered unconscious, it is a very strange sensation to say the least. Before you even open your eyes the first thing that comes back to you is the ability to hear. Where before it would be some kind of droning white noise, the noise begins to clear and become more and more coherent and less echoey until it is fully restored.

From that point your sense of feeling comes back and you try to move. It is only at that point when you try and fail due to the recent rebooting of your motor skills that you become aware that your eyes are fully open and that the reason you could not see was because you were readjusting to the light.

This is the fate that met one Naruto Uzumaki upon his reawakening. He groaned while clutching his head almost as if he was experiencing a hangover, and dimly felt someone grab his arms and help him into a sitting position against the wall.

"Yeesh...I've seen plenty of demigods, but you, Son of Hista, could easily be the craziest, most impetuous of them all! I mean, pyrokinesis! You used your ability to control fire you got from your mother to keep the explosion suppressed inside the scorpion's body when the arrow blew up...not bad, but you're right: You ARE insane!"

"That's what I said, how is it you're up so fast, much less not dead?" Desma asked.

"Urrrugh...my...head..." Naruto moaned as they set him against the wall of the cave, "how long was I out?"

"An hour...I think the one who summoned the scorpion didn't want to see what other insanely stupid thing you'd pull if he tried jumping us." Desma said.

Naruto groaned as he stood up and noticed what the scorpion had left behind. The spoil was a piece of it's armored shell with ancient greek, like a tablet.

"Your arrow was what did that thing in, so you can have this. Mind if I read it first?" Naruto asked, picking up the object from the golden powder of monster essence.

"Hey, I don't mind. But...if that says what I think it does, don't freak about it, ok?" she said, looking nervous._ 'Gods of Olympus, please **DON'T** let it be **THAT** story!'_ she thought.

Naruto raised an eyebrow as he wondered why his companion had requested that, then turned to the tablet.

**_Orion was the most handsome man in the world, a mighty hunter, an untiring dancer, a hearty eater. Many women loved him, and so did the men, because of his generous nature and caring heart. Orion loved the women as if he were their brother, and with the men he formed his most intimate and physically satisfying attachments. Even the gods and goddesses took notice of him, and enjoyed his company. But his favoured fortune led to his early death and legendary destiny. Such is the fate of heroes._**

**_One day while he was hunting in the forest, he came upon a beautiful young woman who was also hunting, with a pack of the finest hounds he had ever seen. Both packs picked up the scent and they hunted together. When the deer was caught and killed, Orion saw that his companion was no mere girl, but the Virgin Goddess Artemis herself. He averted his eyes from her in respect._**

**_Artemis and Orion passed the summer together. By day they hunted and sported, challenging each other to foot races, archery, and storytelling. In the evenings around the fire they bared their souls and told each other about their lives, their lost loves, their secrets. Orion spoke of the men he had loved and hoped to love again. Artemis spoke of the nymphs who attended her, their love affairs, and her attachments to the goddesses and women of her cities. They became, in short, fast friends._**

**_One night, when Artemis and Orion sat at their fire telling stories, they shared an embrace. The next day, Apollo, the brother of Artemis, was walking through the forest. He smelled a low-burning campfire, and found the glade where Orion and Artemis lay still asleep. He saw and appreciated the beautiful Orion, but grew angry when he saw that Artemis lay with him. He assumed that Artemis also appreciated Orion in the masculine manner he himself did, and had compromised her virginity, her separateness from the sexuality of men. But he concealed his anger, put on a mask of friendliness, and whistled a bright tune until the two friends awoke. Seeing who was making the noise, they invited him to breakfast._**

**_Later in the morning, Artemis attended to her priestesses elsewhere, and left her brother and friend to amuse themselves together._**

**_Apollo is very beautiful; he is the sun; he is a god selected to sit among the twelve Olympians. He is vain, yet kind; wise, yet full of fun. Orion was immediately captivated by him, and naturally so. Apollo's heart was also caught by Orion's friendly company and gentle yet thoroughly masculine manner. Apollo took as his lovers many women and goddesses, and also men and gods. Unlike Orion, he was secretive about those male assignations, and would deny them if questioned about their exact nature._**

**_But the attraction between Apollo and Orion took its natural course, and before the end of the afternoon the man and god had enjoyed together all the pleasures of manhood, to their mutual satisfaction. As the sun set they lay together in tender friendship murmuring in quiet conversation. Orion mentioned his happy anticipation of the return of Artemis and how the three of them might now be friends. Apollo stiffened in anger at the mention of his sister's name, for he had forgotten his misinformed but potent jealousy._**

**_"What incurs thine anger, my lord?" asked Orion._**

**_"I'm surprised you would question my apprehension at the arrival of another who enjoys your favors."_**

**_Orion laughed before he could think not to. "My favors?" he exclaimed. "But Artemis is a chaste goddess. She has not known me, nor any man. We are companions, but of the hunt and the forest, not any bed or bower. Besides, I am a lover of men'as thou art."_**

**_Apollo saw the truth in what Orion said. He did not relish realizing his mistake, and he lashed out at Orion._**

**_"You insult me-mortal," Apollo said, standing up, his face a blaze of wrath. Orion cowered at his feet, an unlikely posture for such a noble man, but he thought it prudent in the face of this capricious god. Apollo picked up Orion's head by his hair and bellowed into his face, "I am not a lover of men-like you," and he spat out the last phrase in disgust. "I take women as my lovers, as nature intended. You are nothing but a boy, to sport with."_**

**_"My lord, I did not intend any insult-how could I after the joy we have known this same day?" But Apollo did not answer, turned, and strode away without a backward glance._**

**_Hours after Apollo left him, Orion was found by Artemis in the dark, weeping quietly. She comforted him, and hearing his story, took him to his house, and left him alone, as was his wish. She returned to her house in the forest._**

**_During the night, a terrible dream possessed Orion. He dreamed that a scorpion rose up from the forest floor and nearly killed him before he could defend himself. He did not know it, but it was Apollo who sent this scorpion. He dreamed he could not strike through the scorpion's armor, no matter how powerful or direct his thrust. He fought the scorpion in his dream the night through, and just before he awoke, the scorpion had almost stung him directly in his heart._**

**_He woke at dawn, drenched with sweat, and relieved that the scorpion was only a dream, for he had never met a beast he could not kill. He went out, hoping to meet Artemis and tell her of his dream, but outside his door waited the giant scorpion from his dream, more terrible in reality than even in his mind. He fought it valiantly, with arrows and his sword, but as in the dream, he could not pierce its armor. The scorpion backed him to the sea, and Orion plunged in, hoping he could swim away from it._**

**_Meanwhile, Apollo visited his sister. She angrily told him she disapproved of his treatment of her friend. He mildly begged her to hold her tongue, for something far worse was in need of her vengeance and loyalty. He said an evil man, Candaon, had the night previous attacked and raped Opos, one of her hyperborean priestesses, and was right now swimming to a distant island, hoping to escape the wrath of Artemis._**

**_No one escapes the vengeance of Artemis when one of her own has been ravaged. Without even pausing to first comfort Opos, she grabbed her quiver and sped down to the sea. Apollo followed her, and pointed out the speck in the distance that was Orion's head, still putting distance between himself and the scorpion. "There he is," Apollo said, standing behind her so his face could not betray his treachery. Artemis loosed her arrow with unerring aim and slew her friend. When he saw his plan had succeeded, Apollo ran away. Artemis went back to the forest and found Opos who supposedly had been raped. Opos was unharmed, and knew nothing of an attack. When Artemis saw the girl was well, she soon deduced the truth. She retrieved Orion's body, but even Asclepius could not revive him, though he applied drops of the gorgon's blood to the lifeless lips of Artemis's true friend. Orion's spirit had already descended to Asphodel Fields._**

**_Artemis placed Orion's body among the stars as a tribute to the friendship they once shared, a reminder to all mortals that men and women enjoy friendships of every variety and degree. The scorpion she killed, and set it also in the sky, behind Orion, as a warning to everyone under heaven of the treachery of those who are false to their lovers and false to themselves._**

Naruto's amber eyes widened and he went a little green in the face at what he had just read. His mind going back to what Desma had told him about her mom. He didn't hold the way Apollo was against him as far as romantic interests went, but Naruto had a personal reason why he didn't like this news.

Great! Just absolutely freaking great!...he was going to get a psycho, bisexual brother-in-law with the ability to see everything under the sun who would try killing him as part of a package deal as soon as he married his sister!

Well, no wonder Desma told him not to freak out when he read this and why she told him Apollo's kids knew the scorpion.

Serephone laughed, obviously seeing his expression. The demon could see he understood what he had just found out.

Desma looked miserable. This was practically a slap in the face: a guy her aunt Artemis liked, Apollo, the scorpion APOLLO had created, and now he knew about Orion!

_'Thanks Dad, the way you swing both ways and your ego really messed this up for me bad!' _she thought, she was enjoying her journey with Naruto for the most part, now he'd probably want nothing to do with Apollo's kids! She didn't want him to take her back to Camp Half-Blood and ditch her there out of disgust for her dad!

"Well...as long as he doesn't kill or hit on me..." Naruto shrugged, then tossed the spoil to Desma. Hey, if he could forgive Sasuke for all the shit he'd done to him and the multiple murder attempts, Naruto didn't see why he'd be bothered by his future brother-in-law's tastes unless he was given a reason to.

Both females looked shocked stupid at Naruto's reaction to what he had just found out, but then the impromptu member of their trio started glowing and she let out a shriek like she was being tortured. Naruto and Desma turned and rushed to the empousa as she was held in place and felt like she was being electrocuted.

"Serephone!" Naruto and Desma said in alarm as he rushed over to help her.

"Don't touch me," she warned, but it was too late as they were blasted back by the hold that was on her.

"Must be...Banishment Spell...!" Serephone said before she vanished completely.

"That's enough of her. Took a while to find the spell to send her away. Mother's servants...why must the meddle in things? Still, I must confess that you three were an effective team. Never thought Apollo's scorpion would be beaten by burning alive from the inside out like that. Most impressive." A voice said, and Naruto and Desma whirled around. That was the same voice that the humanoid shape the Mist had take used!

The person walking toward them from the temple was a pale young man, at least a year younger than Naruto. His hair was the same golden color as Naruto's Nemean Lion outfit, and his body possessed the grace and savagery of a jungle cat, he had blazingly bright emerald eyes and he was dressed in sweatpants, a T-shirt, and leather boots.

"And you are...?" Naruto asked.

"Robert Airamus, the Son of Hecate." he said, his eyes narrowed at Naruto and Desma. He stood up and his hands crackled with energy.

"And you two aren't leaving here alive!"

Naruto growled and his hands ignited in fireballs and Desma readied another arrow.

"We'll see about that, Houdini!" Naruto growled.


End file.
